Battlestar Galactica:New Beginnings
by Phoenix4416
Summary: An au story. What if more than 50000 survived the fall? What if there more non-networked battlestars? What if the Graystone's legacy was more than the Cylons? Adding in a new main character with ties to 4 main characters. And a new role eventually for 5 other main characters. Let the galactica lead you on a journey to Earth. Sorry about the wait laptop is getting
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own anything and am not profiting in any way that could get me in trouble**

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Battlestar Galactica:New Beginnings

CHAPTER 1:WELCOME TO THE DEFIANT

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**48 days before the fall of the 12 Colonies**

**10 minutes sublight from Leonis**

**Orbit of The Nemean Fleet Shipyards**

**Raptor 312**

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An erect figure sat in the co-pilot's seat of the bug shaped raptor as it shuttled it's way as only a "glorified schoolbus" could towards the graceful shape of the Battlestar Defiant. Small on the grand scale of ships and not as powerful as most, the Defiant was a Valkyrie class battlestar and would be his home for the next two years.

"...Captain?"

Brought back to the present the officer mentally shook himself "Sorry, what did you say?" The Lt. looked at him her face slightly obscured by the reinforced glass of her helmet, yet even this wasn't enough to hide the slivers of gold in her hazel eyes or the agonisingly broken shape of the nose.

"I asked how come you're still flying birds instead of being sat in the C.I.C? Did your mother forget to pull some strings for you?" As she said this an almost wild grin creased her face taking away the seriousness of the statement, yet still the implications were there.

"She would've done. Frak when i was a knuckle dragger she almost had a fit. But...i cut pretty much all strings with her years ago. I got to where i am from the bottom without any 'friends in h...'"

_"Raptor 312 this is Defiant, please state your intentions and transmit codes"_

"Defiant Budget. Am on approach with authorised crew replacement. Transmitting codes now..."

_"Codes verified transferring you over to flight control"._

The voice of the communications officer was replaced by that of the L.S.O. (landing signals officer)._ "Raptor 312, you are cleared for approach, bipeds on the runway so reduce speed to one five zero, port landing bay, hands on...the checkers are green. Call the ball"._

"Roger that, I have the ball" lieutenant Susan 'Budget' Williams replied taking full control of the raptor complying with the landing instructions.

"Hands on, I love this battlestar already", the Captain mutters."Yeah it's a pain in the arse" the lieutenant replied not realising that he meant it.

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Sweeping into the portside flightpod, budget eased the bug shaped raptor into a sweeping arc bringing her to rest without so much as a bump on landing pad two. The electromagnets built into said pad kicked in securing the raptor to the pad as it started its descent. Before the two pilots the starfield was replaced by the flashing red lights of the hanger airlock they were entering. Budget cleared her board shutting down the raptor's systems in the correct order. A roof closing over the lift sealing it from the outer vacuum.

Then the suited knuckle draggers got to work securing the raptor to a tractor before opening up the inner doors to the hanger deck after the airlock down from the raptor the captain cast a keen eye about the deck, the last time hed been on a Valkyrie class hanger deck he ran it. Practically another lifetime.

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The deck chief seeing the new arrival came over and saluted the captain which he quickly and precisely returned.

"Chief Lennox sir, I'll be your deck chief during your stay with us. I understand you used to be one of us sir, back on the Valkyrie". The chief was a thin middle aged man with immense upper body strength.

"I actually started off on the Perseus but yeah I was chief on the Valkyrie" the captain confirmed as he picked up his pack and rucksack after shaking the chiefs hand and logging in.

"Yeah, one of my guys used to serve on your deck...Specialist Strombe."

"Strombe?...the electrician from picon that lost his finger?" the captain asked as he made his way to the closest hatch that led into the main battlestar's body.

"Yeah that's him. He said you ran an easy deck...but one of the best in the entire fleet".

Shaking his head the captain replied "I had a good crew and was given pretty much free control over the deck by Adama. He even bent some rules to get us as good as we were".

"Nevertheless sir" the chief said as they reached the hatch "I would appreciate it if you could maybe pass on some advice when you're next free. Performance isn't exactly up to scratch".

Turning to the chief the captain nodded asking "How long?"

Answering, the chief replies "two months, before that I'd served three years".

The captain seeing how new to the job the chief was said "When I'm next free I'll pop by, if you'll excuse me".

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Walking down the almost familiar corridoors of the Defiant , she being so similar to her sister ship the Valkyrie, the captain was soon met at the C.I.C. by two marines who after checking his I.D. allowed him to enter. Approaching a hunched over figure at the main console, ignoring the activity around him the captain placed his bags at his feet and held a salute to the figure saying "Captain David Cain reporting for duty sir".

The hunched over figure slowly straightened and turned to face him taking stock of the newcomer. The eyes of the commander were tired gray orbs that hid the true strength of the man, his face looking like it hadn't felt the kiss of unfiltered sunlight in months and with an excess of fat as was the same with the body. The bright lights of the cic blended with his thinning pepper gray hair. But when he straightened to return the salute Captain Cain knew this man would be deadly in any type of fight.

"At ease captain." the commander reached out and shook his hand. "We might as well take this in my office".

The Captain followed the Commander the short distance to his office. Smaller than those of a Mercury class it was still a reasonable size with photos mounted on the walls depicting family members, crewmates and ships.

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Sitting on the desk, Cain stood at ease in front of the commander as the commander began, "It's been a while since I've had a member of Argos Squadron serve on my ship. The last one must have been five six years ago, and from what I've read about you they just gave me one of the best". Picking up a tan manilla folder the corners cut off as was the custom since Kobol, Commander Scott read out some facts;

"One of the top deck chiefs...you enrolled in flight school where you soon outclassed the other cadets, possibly due to help from your eidetic memory (near photographic memory it's quite rare), recommended by both Commodore Danvers and Major Taylor for transfer to the Argos Squadron training corps at Delphi, where yet again you were consistently top of your class.

" So...they then stuck you with one of their best most uncontrollable fighter jocks... Colonel Sloan's report says seeing you two fly puts the rest of Argos Squadron to shame, and i quote here 'was like seeing two pilots born in the cockpit'.

"6 months later you graduate top of your class and are given 8 months leave..." the commander raises an eyebrow at Cain, he knows that this is a definite sign of a black ops assignment despite the thin cover of it being due to 'fractures of the collar bone, legs and other injuries resulting from an automobile accident'.

"...And choice on your new posting..." the commanders steel gray eyes bore right into Cains emerald ones "If I didn't know any better i would swear your mother was pulling strings...but, I spoke to an old friend who vouched for you.

"But humour an old man...if as this folder says you were given a choice of any posting, Why then did you choose my ship? Because it certainly isn't the Atlantia or the Orinico".

"Permission to speak freely sir?" At a nod from the commander, Cain continued "The Atlantia is all bells and whistles sir, she's networked throughout, she's a sitting duck if the Cylons ever do come back and decide to mess with our systems like the first war. So's the rest of the fleet sir.

"Except for a handful of ships, yours included of course. Then there's the fact that if push comes to shove and the cylons do return you at least have experience fighting them. Invaluable experience. You were a pilot during the first war sir, you know you do not fly with people you don't trust if you want any chance of winning. Well I trust someone with experience a lot more than I would a political appointee with no experience both in combat and getting to their current position sir".

The commander listened to all this then closed his eyes squeezing the bridge of his nose with his left hand, before looking straight at Captain Cain saying;

"Bill was right about you. Welcome to the Defiant Captain Cain".

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**First off I'd like to thank you for reading this far, hopefully you'll be willing to go a bit further.**

**A few points beforehand.**

**The Nemean fleet shipyards were to the best of my knowledge never mentioned, hinted, etc, etc in either Caprica or old and new bsg, and I am mainly introducing them because I beleive that the Fleet would have both smaller and medium sized shipyards/stations/drydocks over all the colonies That way if Scorpia or Picon fleet shipyards are destroyed then the rest can share the burden. On a sidenote it's named Nemean after the Nemean lion killed by Heracles. And i will be discribing the station at some point. For now consider it just a smaller Picon. In this chapter it was just a speck in the distance.**

**I also introduced the Argos Squadron. This is an elite group of pilots set up during the last years of the first war. In peace time the pilots (argonauts) are spread throughout the fleet in order to try and improve other pilots by example. If you're British think red arrows if you aren't think of your own countries display if you haven't picked up on it Admiral Cain is Captain David Cain's mother. I know she was a lesbian in the series but she could have been bi...she could've so I would like to think that at some point she would have had kids if only because it was a part of the Tauron culture.**

**The Caprica parts of the story are coming soon (if not next chapter then after). Some of this will be drawn from The shape of things to come at the end of apotheosis. Next chapter will be the fall and should hopefully be up by the end of the week. This chapter was to merely introduce , i think i'll shut up now. Thankyou.**


	2. Chapter 2 A New Life

**I DON'T OWN ANYTHING. Etc.**

**CHAPTER 2:A NEW LIFE**

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**Quintilis 25th (July)**

**Armistice Day**

**1 hour before the fall**

**BSG 16 (battlestar group)**

**Orbit of Nemea fleet shipyards over Leonis**

**Battlestar Defiant**

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Captain David 'Phoenix' Cain never could have known what was coming. True he did suspect that one day the Cylons would return, most likely to exact revenge on humanity rather than join them in peace. After all today was the fortieth anniversary of the armistace and the Cylons had never appeared at Armistace Station in all that time. Right now though, as he worked on his Viper the recently spoken words of Commander Adama echoed through his mind. The last time he had heard Adama speak similar words was during a night of heavy during one of his one-on-one meetings with Cain when they both served on the Valkyrie, and even then it didn't come close to the emotion he just heard over the wireless at Galactica's decomissioning ceremony.

"Phoenix you ready yet?" Major John 'Goliath' Birkshaw called as he strode over helmet in hand and flight suit zipped.

"Almost..." Cain said as he twisted his right hand deep inside the body of the Viper feeling the tertiary carbot (nozzle attached to a reaction control jet) and twisting it into place. "Alright I'm done sir", Cain said as he stood up wiping the small amount of lubricant off his hands.

Giving Cain a funny look Goliath said "I don't see why you don't let the 'draggers do the repairs, it'll save time"

Slipping his arms into his flightsuit Cain replied "For all major repairs they can, but I wasn't repairing the Viper then. Fine tuning it would be a better word. You know I don't fly with networks when I can. The downside is I need to make some minor adjustments to compensate, adjustments I don't trust anyone else to make"

The Major smiled he'd already heard this many times since Cain joined his squadron, "And how long have you been making these adjustments?"

"A couple of hours..."

"2 hours...Gods. What were you doing, fitting rims, and an Ambrosia fountain or just fracking the thing? In fact forget I asked. Well can you fly?"

"I can outfly you, and that's with a head start and blindfolded...sir" Cain muttered with a smile ar the end as he signed back the tools to the closest deck hand, a young 18 year old, red head girl from Aerilon who smiled at his comment.

"Not if you're riding a schoolbus for the rest of the tour. Come on Skids up in five". Thinking he'd won, Goliath turned to go back to his own Viper but was stopped short when Cain retorted "I'd jump then".

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**Leonis **

**Lake Cassidy**

**86 miles from Luminere**

**Gray Household**

The Graystones died in the first month of the Cylon uprising, targeted by the Cylons themselves, their lakeside residence on Caprica was hit by a 2 kiloton Tactical nuke. This is all common knowledge amongst the colonies. The savior of the Atlas Arena, the Architect of the Cylons, the master of the Virtual World, Daniel Graystone was dead. Killed in that attack, as was his wife Amanda, and possibly two others. His daughter Zoe long since dead having been killed in a mag-lev bombing.

Nobody questions the validity of these facts, noone has reason to. The Graystones were dead, vaporised in the attack.

Then they drew breath.

4 years before the first war the Graystones discovered resurection, using it to provide a body for the Avatar of their deceased daughter Zoe. And for one other, her closest friend Tamara Adama, also an avatar.

Two years after they created resurection they realised that not only could they revive artificial life, they could with some work revive the minds of a human, and so it was that the Graystones and their "help" died and survived.

Disguising themselves, creating false identities they survived the war on Caprica as their creations attempted to destroy humanity. Using their intelligence they attempted to subvert the cylons programming, and in some cases they were successful but the cylon hive mind was so much more than the generative algorithim stolen from Zoe Jr. body.

It adapted and grew far beyond what Daniel would have beleived was possible in such a short amount of time. And then after a decade of bloodshed, of watching their creations destroying man in ever crueler methods, a ceasefire was declared. Manand machine parted.

Once Armistice came about the Graystones and Tamara fled Caprica, travelling the colonies before finally settling on Leonis.

The Grays as they were now known were a family that kept to themselves. Outright owners of Leonis Estates Sparkling Wines and Enterprise Solutions using Tamara or Tamalyn Adams as she was publicly known as the face of their companies they had ships, money and kept abreast of technological advances.

They worked hard to understand the Cylons and how they might advance, constantly preparing for if they ever returned. Only a handful of people knew, and this handful was fully invested in the goal of protecting humanity.

They just never knew how the Cylons had already infiltrated the fleet's security.

But they would eventually.

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Daniel sat at his computer working on a generative projection of the Cylon hive mind and ways to influence it. A person from another world however might beleive that he was asleep whilst wearing a flashing band across his head. He wasn't, instead he was in in Virtual Reality sim where he was able to analyse far more information than he would in a normal state. In the real world his third body was already starting to it's 'genetic age', his once fully ginger hair now gathering hints of gray about the temples, frown lines cracking his forehead and heavy bags under his eyes. Flakes of ash crumbled into his shirt as he took a drag on the half spent cigarette.

In the V world he stood in his old lab, a place that in the real world is now still a crater overgrown by radioactive plantlife. It was however the only place that ever truly felt like home to him. Here? Here in V world it was still home but it wasn't.

Red lines of data cascaded around him as he slid them into a cohesive pattern. He was close, closer than he had evet been in the thousands of sims that he had ran. Yet still the key was just out of needed a true piece of evidence of how Cylons had evolved.

"Dad?" Zoe's voice intruded on his thoughts.

"I'm close Zoe, I can feel it...I just need..."

"You just need to take a rest before you burn through that body like you did your last one" Zoe answered with concern in her voice. Her newly minted body almost perfectly reflecting that of the original Zoe just before her death.

Shaking his head finally stubbing out his cigarette in the real world ashtray, Daniel replied "I know but the answer is right there, I'm sure of it".

"You need to ta..." Moving closer to her father as she saw something...strange in a seperate information stream she was by his side as the alarms started blaring, alarms that had never been used before. The alarms that terrified both of them, they could only mean one thing.

Whipping her right hand through the air a cascade of red letters and numbers burst forth. "They're back...We've just lost Armistice Station...and the Pavillion". The Pavillion was a ribbon of early warning satelites on the other side of the Colonies to the Armistace Line.

With a hint of fear in his voice Daniel said "Then it's as bad as we thought it might be. They've surrounded us. Zoe put Omega into effect and update the messages with the new information and send them out on a wide band all frequencies".

Zoe, still hooked up to her holoband completed this task within just a few seconds."It's done...our people are starting to report in".

Leaning on his workstation looking at the new information on the screens Daniel felt the weight of the world resting on his shoulders muttering almost completely silently "And so it begins".

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**The Moonstar Trader LESW**

**Orbit of Geminon**

**30 seconds after Omega Protocol enacted**

The Moonstar Trader was just one of 87 cargo/transport ships owned by Leonis Estates Sparkling Wines. It's captain one Captain Sinead Elran. A former combat pilot until 3 years ago when the slashing of the military budget had forced her out of the service. She was soon chosen by Tamalyn (Tamara) Adams for inclusion into the highly secretive group surrounding the Graystones, and was given command of one of the largest Cargo Ships operated by LESW.

Relaxing with a coffee propped on her right leg watching the dwindling traffic surrounding Mercia Spaceport she was unprepared for what was about to happen as the male Tauron comm officer said "Captain incoming message...frak...it's Omega sir".

Bouncing to her feet, cup smashing on the floor Elran was by him in a minute inputting her security code to be met on the monitor by the face of Zoe Graystone.

_"This is an Omega warning. The Colonies are about to be attacked. Estimated strength 400 capital vessels. You are ordered to open blue book and jump to emergency coordinates kappa. I repeat...". _

Typing_ '#454576-298-' _into the console a hidden compartment opened in the wall, from which instead of retrieving the blue book she retrieved a ships manifest. Turning to the last page she moved to the navigation officer and started typing in a series of numbers in the jump calculator which she read from the last item number.

The navigation officer had already retrieved the jump key, one of the few things his mind didn't struggle against.

Close by The Raving Bird out of Delphi warched as moments later the ship jumped. As did more than a hundred others throughout colonial space, all belonging to either LESW or Enterprise solutions.

Then as the civilian ships started to listen to their wireless and the impossible message playing out.

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**Caprica orbit**

Minutes later a fleet of 75 titanic ships jumped into Caprica orbit in formation, quickly maneuvering to surround the planet and space stations whilst ignoring the hundreds of civilian ships dotting local space, half of which were already disapearing from Dradis. They could be dealt with later. Dozens of other ships went unseen ferrying civilians to safety through a long established, Ancient network.

Going unnoposed by the Capital class defensive satelites set up to protect the Colonies Capital and not currently in range of her Battlestars the Cylons were an impending Doom on all before them. Fear reigned in the hearts and minds of all.

Rotating on a central axis the star shaped dorsal and ventral hemispheres of the Basestars aligned so that they were configured for planetary bombardment.

It seemed that Caprica's end was certain.

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**Well i hope you liked that chapter as much as I did writing it.**

**When it came to how to incorporate Caprica into this novel I realised that noone said that resurection couldn't work on a human and the graystones did eventually develop resurection not for the cylons but for Zoe jr. As seen at the end of Apotheosis. And with Amanda graystone being a leading geneticist she may have found a way to resurect a human. I'll explain it better in a later chapter.**

**Also the graystones would have had to hide otherwise they would have either been killed by a mob or the cylons for revenge or by the courts for any number of Estates Sparkling Wines is a 'real' company in bsg. It was in fact their wine that toasted the black bird. I chose both that company and a made up one for the assets. Again i'll explain how.**

**Quitilus is from the Caprica (series) calender which i found on the bsg wiki.**

**I apologise for the shortness of this chapter but I needed it to introduce the Graystones to the series. And also to set up the next chapter which I'm just about to start, which will be up by the end of the week.**


	3. Chapter 3 Corrupted Airwaves

**I own nothing .**

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**Chapter 3. Corrupted Airwaves**

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**Caprica orbit**

**BSG 83**

**Battlestar Valiant (Mercury class)**

Admiral Perry stood stockstill staring at the flashing blood red icons on the dradis screen. His mind struggling to comprehend that after all this time and on this very day the Cylons had returned, and not just returned but returned in force.

"By the gods..."he breathed as the concept of what was about to happen entered his mind. He only had 3 battlestar groups comprising 14 variously classed battlestars and 48 support ships. He knew it was not enough.

"XO send out Code 13 signal, in the clear. 'Caprica under likely Cylon assault recall all available units to Caprica space'." The XO nodded to the Comm officer a young Piconese female who immediately responded. The XO then turned back to the Commander saying "Thank the gods for that message, we already had half our squadrons in the air".

Speaking in a lower voice the commander said "It won't be enough. That's a new type of basestar out there and if this Graystone is to be beleived then..."

"Admiral..." the comm officer interrupted "messages from fleet incoming... 64 basestars at Tauron, 82 at Picon, 60 at Scorpia..."

Leaning on the console the Admiral said, "Then we're on our own then. Tactical have all colonial ships maneuvered into Delta 8 formation centred on Valiant. Overlapping fields of fire, vipers leashed".

The tactical officer went to work immediately.

"Oh gods...Sir, Caprica just lost her mainframes. The ground defences are down" the Tactical officer announced reading the incoming data.

All eyes fixed on the man. "Impossible...there's backups spre..."

Shaking his head the officer replied "They've all been hit with either internal explosions or extremely concentrated conventional weapons sir".

Realisation dawned on the Admiral, he knew they'd lost before they even started. Looking to the fearful faces of his crew he ordered "We will do our duty, we will stand and we will fight. We don't need a mainframe to protect us or our people on our homeworlds, because we are The Colonial Fleet. So say we all!"

As one they regained their strength of will as they gave the reply "So say we all!".

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**2 minutes before Cylon incursion**

**Battlestar Galactica**

Commander Bill Adama, a commander seen as an ageing lion by many and a backwards arsed fool by others strode into the C.I.C. Immediately being met by Lieutenant Gaeta, "I'm sorry to disturb you sir, but we have a priority 1 alert from...",Gaeta stopped dead at the name.

"Who?" The Commander asked.

Taking a gulp, Gaeta spoke "Zoe Graystone and...Daniel Graystone sir".

"Impossible...what does it say?"

Leading the commander to Dee's comm console Gaeta got a headset for the commander. "The message was transmitted in the clear sir, fleetwide". Playing the message the Commander listened intently. "This is Zoe Graystone to all Colonial ships. An incursion by the Cylons into colonial space is underway. This is not a joke. Already we have lost contact with Armistace station and the Pavillion Deep Space Array. Estimated Cylon strength is far superior to our own and we beleive they have us surrounded. I urge you look to your ships, look to the Colonies and either trust me or at the very least man your defenses. Help is coming".

Slipping the headset off, Commander Adama looked like a solid stone of a man, his ocean blue eyes reflecting his inner turmoil. Staring Gaeta straight in the eyes his gravelly voice spoke, "Set Condition One throughout the ship, recall all squadrons, and get me fleet".

"Aye sir" Gaeta said with a newfound strength.

"And calculate a jump to Ragnar but don't jump. If we have to fight we need something to fight with".

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**Picon Orbit**

**Picon Fleet Command**

**CIC**

**(1 MINUTE BEFORE CYLON INCURSION)**

"I want status reports on all DSAs (Deep space arrays) now. Contact all fleet units and set condition two, in the clear. And recall all outlying fleets", the often soft spoken Fleet Admiral Corman ordered the suddenly packed CIC.

"Sir you need a Presidential order to recall that many ships" a Gemenese Colonel said.

Staring a death stare into the man who dared to defy him, a deep timbre seeped into Corman's voice as he spoke, "And hand the Colonies to the Cylons on a silver platter. I am well within my rights as fle...".

"CONTACTS", a young petty officer manning the Dradis console shouted.

Rushing to the main Dradis console Corman shivered at the sight of more than 84 new Capital class contacts jumping almost on top of the outlying patrol group of Battlestars. That tactic alone resulted in the destruction of The Trident class Battlestar Heliopolis and a Cylon basestar as the two collided headfirst.

Thinking on his feet Corman ordered "Pull the fleet within range of our flak guns, formation Delta Six, and have defensive satelites focus on the outer edges of the Cylon fleet. All fire is to be concentrated on their flanks. Lets see if we can bunch them up". Watching as his orders were carried out by the harried looking crew surrounding him, Corman saw the Cylons stop their advance just out of effective range of the Defensive satelites guns.

That's when realisation hit and the Cylons launched wave after wave of raiders, hundreds and then thousands. Corman knew he would not survive what was to come, but honour swore him to fight. "Launch all Vipers and Raptors, full load outs and fuel. We've got maybe a minute before they're in range. Send message to all colonial units 'use of nuclear weapons is authorised' and load every tube".

The Cylon Raider Armada soon grew so large at an estimated 40,000 ships that the dradis was lagging so much it was causing targeting solutions to drop out. Heading with a purpose towards the guns of the Colonial Fleet and the waiting viper and raptor squadrons the raiders blinked out of existence...

Reapearing with a flashing red visor within the main Colonial squadrons ranks. Pilots quaked in fear as their systems shut down, from engines and weapons to landing gears. Nothing was unaffected as the pilots slapped consoles, screamed and cried as they watched the raiders plowing through their ranks, guns blazing, harvesting all life. Pilots seeing the death and destruction coming their way started to eject from their dead birds trusting themselves to the cold tendrils of space. They were already dead, it would just be time before they realised it.

Gunnery crews on the Battlestars and Stations could only watch as friends, lovers and rivals were swept from existence by the locust like cloud of raiders. Corman couldn't bear to watch and neither could his XO Commander Eckhart. They both knew what needed to be done and neither said a word as they placed their respective keys into their receivers and entered their authorisation codes. Then waited as their plan was executed.

In an attack co-ordinated with the other Commanders, 314 missiles were fired from throughout the fleet and station, all of them nuclear, all of them designed to detonate in a different spot based on proximity.

"Reload all tubes and keep on firing until we're empty", Corman ordered the tactical officer. Turning to the ops officer he added have DC teams blow whatever networks they can, any way they can we're being infected".The operations officer got to work.

Eckhart moved to the comm officer asking if there was any way through the cylon jamming. The woman looked at him saying "There's too much interference sir, all long range comms are down we're lucky we have short range and most of tha...".

Corman watching the progress of the missiles and repositioning the fleet ordered "Boost a signal to Picon and have them retransmit from the other side of the planet". Working her console the officer smiled "it's working sir".

"Then order all ships to sever their networks...they don't need FTL anymore. We're staying until the end". Just then the first set of nuclear missiles detonated taking the lives of the colonial pilots and whatever Cylon Raiders they could, this was soon followed by dozens more detonations scattered throughout the battlefield.

The Basestars just watched and directed from a distance.

From a hundred different vectors, thousands of raiders that should have been destroyed in the freshly born nuclear fires started to cascade down upon the station breathing a virus into the vacuum of space holding the enormous station. Throughout it's corridoors damage control teams were working with marines blowing up data conduits holding the vast networks of systems on the station together.

Power dropouts were felt in some parts of the station whilst in others nothing happened. Then the raiders unleashed their nuclear payloads.

Flak fields flared to life laying down an almost solid wall of shrapnel in seemingly random places hitting and destroying hundred of missiles. But it was too little, too late.

First one, then two, then three nuclear missiles slipped through ripping space apart where they detonated. Twisting and corrupting the specially designed hull of the station, the shockwaves throwing the crew about even in the heart of the station in the CIC. And yet more came. A station never before tested in combat was tested to it's limit and then dragged beyond.

The Fleet following Corman's maneuvering plan set a direct course at full speed to the waiting basestars, keeping close to one another for mutual protection but with the added danger of a raider jumping into the middle of the formation and detonating a bay full of nukes.

Even as the station was being pulverized by the still raining nuclear weapons her defences stayed true, firing a barrage of flak and missiles into the retreating waves of raider. Raiders that were starting to jump away towards the Colonial fleet.

Deep in the heart of the station a torn and mortally wounded Admiral Corman dragged himself through the smoke filled, inflamed CIC, sparks dancing from shattered consoles. Dead and dieing crewmen littering the crushed nexus. Pulling himself to the plot table the dieing Admiral breathed a sigh of relief as he saw it powered. Inputting a code and reinserting his key the hum he should have heard was lost in his perforated eardrums.

With his last breath he could only hope as he disappeared in a flash of bright white light.

Seen from the Colonial fleet the beaten, crushed and pulverized station suddenly flared brighter than all the nuclear weapons launched against her as her reactors, all her nuclear missiles and her surviving Tylium reserves detonated wiping the Cylon raiders still near the Station from this life.

* * *

**Caprica Orbit**

**5 minutes after Cylon incursion**

Before the information gathered in the Battle of Picon could reach the ears of Caprica, the Cylons were almost close enough to start deploying their virus.

The Battlestars, destroyers, gunstars and missilestars stood together between the main part of the Cylon fleet that was about to break off into it's individual units like the rest of it's fleet had and Caprica.

A grand total of 89 ships had been gathered due to reinforcements jumping in. The majority of which were networked, only the older ones being without networks susceptible to the Cylon Virus that had already claimed a third of the fleet.

To make matters worse the ground based defenses that should have been able to defeat a truly intense barrage of missiles were offline thanks to the destruction of both the main, secondary and tertiary defense mainframes

Caprica and her fleets stood alone against the Cylon armada, of which the Basestars were each splitting up and moving into bombardment positions over the planet.

The sickle shaped raiders are almost in range of the fleets Vipers now. The pilots of said Vipers counting each breath, praying to their Lords and trying to shut down as much of their Viper's network as was possible, which wasn't much.

Then the signal went out.

But nothing happened to the Vipers.

The signal intensified spreading throughout local space.

But still nothing happened to the Colonial ships.

Then the Cylon raiders opened their Visors revealing the blood red beam of light in its constant back and forth motion. They sent out their signal well within effective range of the colonial vessels.

One viper, then two, 6, 14 vipers started to drift with intermittent failures but the rest kept on going, filling any gaps and tightening their ranks. Heading head first for the Cylon raiders the Viper pilots lost sight of their fear. In it's place was hope.

Somehow the Cylon signal wasn't affecting them all, somehow they had a chance, a small chance but still a chance.

They were determined to make the best of it.

Each and every Colonial ship opened fire on the Cylons.

Today would be a bloody day.

* * *

**Well sorry to leave you on another cliff hanger. But I hoped you've liked it so far. **

**I know it seems like i made some mistakes with the numbers of ships as heard throughout the fleet, but they were there to show that especially in war information can be corrupted. I also know it seems like a lot of raiders for 80 odd basestars but on battlestar wiki it says a basestar can hold roughly 3-400.**

**Well please review and watch this space.**


	4. Chapter 4 Trial By Fire

**I own nothing etc.**

* * *

**Chapter 4 Trial by Fire**

* * *

**Leonis**

**Graystone Compound**

**15 minutes into Cylon incursion**

The war was going bad for the Colonials. Reports put the Cylon forces at a little over 300 basestars. But most people in the know realised that the Cylons would be holding something in reserve, in standard military tactics this normally amounts to a third of the available forces. Already the Colonial fleet was hard pressed trying to contain the Cylons, and that's being optimistic.

Within the first 5 minutes of this new war, almost a third of the Fleet had been lost with most being from the destruction of Scorpia's shipyards and the surrounding fleet when an overwhelming amount of firepower and The Virus had been brought to bear on the rapidly assembling ships.

There were scattered reports of ships having jumped out before the total destruction was completed, but the validity of said reports was to be determined. Most methods of communication were scrambled almost beyond recognition by the Cylons jamming, the only way to clearly get through seemed to be by pumping insane amounts of power into the communication arrays or by actually jumping raptors.

What had been confirmed was that Caprica, Scorpia, Picon, Tauron and Canceron were under attack by an overwhelming amount of Basestars. The other colonies seemed to be getting off lightly with just a small fleet of 10 ships jumping in, sending out the Virus hitting as many ships as possible and then jumping out. This was meant to take down as many Battlestars as possible before the main fleets were brought to those planets.

Leonis was one of the few planets yet to be hit.

She was also one of the closest to the border.

"It's working" Zoe called out to her father, "the Virus they're sending out is more powerful than we thought, but we're managing to scramble it".

Daniel standing over the touchscreen computer mounted in this VR sim of his old lab struggled to read through this new Cylon virus plaguing the Fleet, and then like a cubit in the proverbial shit he saw it. "There's a back door, there has to be, this Virus looks more and more like an activation code".

"Then they've been amongst us, amongst the fleet, it's the only way they could get the backdoor in place properly...They must have human models" Zoe realised, the full scale of what she was saying causing her to look at her father and hope he proved her wrong.

But this time things were more important, "Zoe pull up all recent upgrades to the Fleet's systems, see if you can find where that backdoor is".

Zoe started with the last one spread throughout the fleet, The Cicero Antivirus Software updated a month before, next would be the CNP. "You don't think the man who gave me the last strings of code is helping them, do you?"

Lighting a Cigarette the increasingly haggard looking Daniel Graystone replied "I don't know. We don't even know what he looks like".

* * *

**Caprica**

**Caprica City**

**Presidential bunker**

A constant wall of vigilent men surrounding him, a fearful, guilt ridden man with the weight of the colonies on his shoulders was lead deeper into the maze of tunnels that lead to "The Lair of The Phoenix", the Presidential bunker.

Automatic weapons of the twenty strong squad of Praetorian guard swept every angle of the corridoor as they finallly entered the command complex that made up the heavily fortified bunker.

Bright lights fed the room reflecting off the titanium alloy walls, strengthened to that of a Battlestar's hull. Computers lay about the room with a tiered rise of consoles in one corner. Cabling and control boards littered the floor as technicians worked at trying to repair one of the biggest mistakes of their President's two term run in office. Each and every specialist was working hard at removing every trace of the network from the computers.

At the central war table, wooden representations of the fleet and models of the old cylon basestars were being placed in their last known locations by the petty officers surrounding the table due to the computer feeds that would have fed the console being down.

Those petty officers in turn were getting their information from the tiered banks of consoles in the corner of the room. Built just like on a Columbia Class Battlestar instead of running the bunker these manned consoles were gathering information on the fleet by any means necessary. Usually flash messages, or through the use of runners (raptors jumping from fleet to fleet). These consoles were a throwback to the first war where they saw heavy use. Rather than rip them out which was seen as 'cost effective' by the current government the Admiralty had managed to convince the government that it was in their best interests to maintain them.

In an ideal long term situation the bunker could protect and nourish almost 1000 people for up to 2 years thanks to the foresight of both the Admiralty and the Armies Generals.

Moving to the war table the balding President asked "Where's Admiral Hillard, he should be here?" Admiral Hillard was the President's Fleet Advisor.

General Grear, commander of the First Caprica rifles battalion based out of Caprica City, was in charge of the facility replied, "His raptor is on its way, he was at the Kelsin City Memorial sir".

Nodding, the President started to regain some of his lost strength, "Okay, what do we know, how bad is it?"

A grimace bleeding into his toughened face the General held back some of the animosity he felt to the President as he replied, "It could be a lot worse, frak it would've been if not for the Graystone's warning. As it is we've lost contact with Picon HQ, we're having to use runners to get any information out of Tauron, Scorpia's shipyards and her Battlestar are lost as is a third of the fleet. And we're totally surrounded and if the reports are anything to go by we'll lose".

Before the President could interrupt, the General continued "The Cylons have a way into our systems, pretty much every ship we have is networked thanks to defense cutbacks. We just don't have the time to rip out the networks. As it is, our fleet is launching a full attack on the main Cylon...it, sir its the only way that we can ensure anyone survives" The President stated at him but before he caould ask a petty officer called the General over.

"What is it son?" the old General asked.

"Sir, I'm not sure how, but someone has control over our communications arrays..." the young ensign spoke.

"Someone? The Cylons?" The General asked worried

Shaking his head, struggling to comprehend the new set of data running across his screen the ensign replied "I think...yes sir. They're pumping out huge amounts of data that I can't understand...it's a virus sir".

"Frak. Call in the closest bombers to each site they have a go for demolitions".

"Aye sir".

His head hung in defeat the President asked the General the word on everyones lips "Can we survive this Saul?"

Meeting the President's eye he replied "Only by the will of the God's. The Fleet is scattered, outnumbered and outgunned. Our defences are worth shit. Our planets are open to attack. We'll fight until we can't if you order it sir. But you need to realise this is worse than the first war. If anyone survives it will be under the boots of a Cylon. As it is Operation Kobol is in effect, the civilian ships are being commandeered and we're evacuating everyone we can beyond the red line", tears stung the General's eyes as he admitted the truth to his commander in chief.

"Can't our armies ta..." the President started to ask.

"Out of the question sir. We could piece together a resistance but we're looking at billions of centurions".

"Sir..." the comm officer shouted ovet. Looking his way the General asked "what".

His voice cracking the young officer replied "Scorpia is being nuked, every town, every city sir. Neutron bombs mainly in the 20 megatonne range".

The President almost collapsed as the petty officer manning the console next to him said "Gods...Sir...it's Tauron th...they're being hit too". The General knew the small fiery woman hailed from Tauron so was not surprised that she burst into tears.

"Su...Surrender..." the President croaked then finally cracking he said louder this time "We need to surrender". The General, glad the President was seeing reason, nodded. Then taking control of the communications board of the Tauron petty officer, hooked the system into the backup dishes. "It's ready sir".

Moving as if to his own death the President reached for the headpiece knowing that the fate of more than 20 billion colonists rested on what he was about to say, words already paid for in blood. Gathering his energies he spoke;

" Thi..." stronger now "This is President Richard Adar of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol to the Cylon leadership. We su...we..." the room hung in silence as he prepared to hand over the Colonies. "...We..."

"DRADIS CONTACTS!"

* * *

**Virgon Orbit**

**BSG57**

**Battlestar Atlantia**

**5 MINUTES AFTER DESTRUCTION OF PICON HQ**

Standing amongst the hanging cables and scattered hard drives that was the CIC Admiral Robert Nagala stood alone, his mind fracturing and piecing itself back together again. All his life he'd taken orders, be they from his dad, his teachers or Admirals Corman and Rand.

Now though, he was without orders, without the security of being able to fall back on his superiors. He was alone now more than ever. He was in danger now, more than ever before, more so than in the first war.

And like an ancient Olympian of old he stepped into his role.

"XO send out message to all ships 'Corman and Rand are lost. This is Admiral Nagala taking command of Atlantia. All available ships are to regroup at present position for counter-attack'".

Colonel Lesley Finch gave the message to the comm officer whom immediately transmitted it.

"Now we wait and see how many survived".

* * *

**Caprica**

Across the vast stretches of Caprica, in dorms, studio flats, cafes, bars and universities thousands of students were illegally hooked into virtual reality sims through illegally obtained holobands. Seen as miscreants at best and terrorists at worse these people, these students were the best at what they did. Better than any government or military specialist. Better even than Dr Gaius Baltar.

They were a secret elite amongst the colonies where the only way in was skill.

They were hackers or Ciphers as they called themselves.

Hooked into a miniaturised V world where they could freely and easily access any and all information they needed they had breached the communications arrays firewalls with the help of Tamara Adama and had taken complete control.

Wihin minutes of control being gained a message was sent to the President telling him it was in the colonies best interests not to attack the arrays.

Even as the Cylon Basestars orbited overhead, they stayed. Gathering energy into the comm arrays buffers they started sending out huge waves in highly specific but constantly changing patterns into space. Creating vast Electro-magnetic waves that spread throughout space and were attuned to a frequency not meant to harm the Colonial fleet, the EM waves disrupted the Cylon virus, corrupting it before it got past 20 feet.

Vipers still fell from the virus, but nowhere near as many.

Blood starting to drip from their noses, they turned their attention to the Basestars finding a far more powerful mind in charge.

A battle of wills and of minds ensued and in the Ciphers were a formiddable army even when compared to the hybrids.

* * *

**Caprica Orbit**

**Bsg 16**

**Battlestar Defiant**

Jumping within three kilometers of a formation of Cylon Basestars, the 4 battlestars and 12 support ships started opening fire with all weapons on the unsuspecting Cylon fleet.

be. Phoenix hit his ventral and rear portside maneuvering thrusters pushing him 'upwards' and throwing him into a drift with his guns raking towards where the Cylons were whilst his previous forward now starboard momentum kept him with Panther. First one raider was split down the glowing Visor, then the central raider's starboard wing was severed from the body blowing the ammunition then the tylium reserviors, wreckage clipping into the last raider sending it into the passing guns of Saber 7 'Bear'.

Cutting his engines to minimal speeds Phoenix allowed his arc to continue seeing the hundreds of Vipers in this operation cut through the Cylons missiles, dodging and getting hit by Raider fire and hammering into the Cylons with their own fire. Missiles then crashed into the backs of the Battlestars Defiant and Talon heating the armour plating but not breaking through whilst more missiles slammed into the flightpods of the Battlestars an explosion lighting up on the portside pod near to the rear central span quickly choked in the Vacuum of space.

The Missilestar Kestral loosing dozens of missiles into the hulls of the Basestars or hitting the surrounding Raiders in leiu of point defences. A broken arm of a Basestars cartwheeled into the path of the destroyer Kurchev crushing her bow and detonating the ammunition stores their a split second later she exploded from and a bright white flash almost blinding Cain. Debris plowed its way into the Olympus class battlestar Hades, cutting a jagged line through her starboard flight pod. She kept pushing through.

Before the rotation was finished Phoenix saw fully armed assault raptors against regulation dropping out of the rear of the four Battlestars flightpods, falling away two hundred meters and dissappearing in flashes of light.

Hitting his engines at full power Phoenix sped out of his rotation still on Panther's tail. All this took just over three seconds. The longest three seconds of Cain's life.

* * *

**100 km away**

A deadly game of cat and mouse was being played out between the Caprica Defence Fleet's Vipers and the attacking Raiders. Vipers taking down three Raiders for every Viper they lost, but numbers were not on the Colonials side and many were struggling to fly without the comfort of a networked Viper. All semblance of order had broken down it seemed, this wasn't a battle, it was a brawl. Corpses of Pilots, Raiders and Vipers littered the battlefield taking down many. It seemed the debris was far worse than the bullets.

With a second wave of raiders just seconds from making contact with the scrambled ranks of Vipers it seemed all was lost.

Flashing into existence behind the second wave of raiders, a dozen Raptors launched half their missiles into the massed ranks of Raiders before spooling up their engines to jump yet again as the missiles found their marks splintering the Raiders and outright blowing others up. The raiders guts and hulls forming an expanding cloud as the Raptors flashed out of existence...

...And back into existence in positions surrounding the deadly brawl between the Vipers and the raiders. Activating their ECM packages in order to aid the hard pressed Viper Pilots, the Raptor ECOs carefully targeted the Cylon Raiders and started firing their payloads.

Sweeping into the twisted one-on-one duals a small amount of friendly fire was inevitable as Viper pilots fell to their own, but others having seen what was coming, started fleeing the brawl as fast as they could.

Hundreds of missiles started slipping between the massed ships, exploding against the hulls of the raiders, many already pockmarked by weapons fire. Hundreds of raiders were wiped out in a matter of seconds. Those Vipers that had fled then did 180° turns, quickly forming up before launching themselves back into the fray with barely any ammunition left.

* * *

**Defending Cylon Fleet**

Jumping back into existence in white flashes of light less than a kilometer away from a so far untouched Basestar on the edge of the fleet came another dozen locking on weapons and having no fear of reprisal by a closeby raider, hundreds of missiles were launched, every single one targeted at the hangerbay near the centre of the basestar.

Whisps of smoke trailed the heavy missiles as they agtempted to raced towards their target. Before they ever reached the raiders jumped outand into the packed skies above Caprica.

At the same time another two Basestars were attacked this way.

An explosion lit the hanger door, but it held, then another and another. It withstood almost two hundred and fifty in rapid succession before it caved in and was thrown back into the ship closely followed by hundreds more missiles hitting the landed Heavy raiders , breaching fuel stores, cooking off ammunition and bursting into internal bulkheads. Each of the three Basestars groandd and shook as the secondary explosions started a chain reaction blowing the ships apart.

Captain Cain slipped through the tightening jaws of death that were two broken formations of raiders closing in on Sabre Squadron. Whenever a raider entered his kill slot he fired, heading straight for him came the wreckage of Ensign Ray "Iceman" Peters Viper still spitting out bullets, Iceman's hand clenched tight on the controls of the tumbling wreckage of a MK VII. Pulling into a tight 90° turn Phoenix just avoided it and through luck slid a shot into the engine of a Raider going after Goliath.

Panther slipped onto his wing, giving Phoenix cover as he pulled them through the exploding wreckage of a Basestar. The hull sparkled to his ears as a fine rain of debris hit his hull. Turning the two raced after nine missiles fired at the already wounded Hades. Getting the first three, Panther took out a raider coming in from up high compared to Hades. Flurries of flame bursting into smoke came from hull breaches covering the Hades hull.

Losing ground to the swiftly accelerating missiles, Phoenix hit his turbo rapidly accelerating, with minute adjustments and Phoenix tapped out six short bursts from his cannons popping each missile. Pulling into a 180° turn Cain saw a flash of silver as Panther moved to slip by him, firing the only burst he could he was only able to clip the raider, but it was enough.

Accelerating away and through the sporadic battlefield staying close to the battlestars and jamming his trigger whenever he could Phoenix caught up with the Defiant.

Over the squawk of wireless chatter came _"All Vipers, Defiant...land where you can. I repeat land where you can. Combat landings authorised"._

In a huge free for all dozens of Vipers broke out of any duals they were engaged in and headed for the closest Battlestar to them and speeding into their flightpods and bumping or outright dragging themselves onto the deck.

This was the deadliest time for any pilot. Following close behind the Vipers came the Raiders.

"Panther, we'll take overwatch. Go solo Portside. Watch yourself" Phoenix said into the wireless.

Replying Panther acknowledged.

Maneuvering round the flightpod Phoenix watched as dozens of vipers streamed towards the battlestar. Behind them came dozens more raiders.

Moving forward like a lion, Phoenix started to draw his bead on the closest raider...fire.

His stream of gold tore into the raider. Moving faster now, scaring a few of the landing viper pilots if that was possible, Phoenix slid by them firing more and more now, almost out of bullets.

Catching a glimpse of a cylon on his starboard side, Cain spun on his nose taking a smattering of shots to his wing, speeding past Cain, whom used what momentum he could to pull around onto the Raiders arse. Pulling up the cylon avoided the return fire from Cain but took a full onslaught from the destroyer Venturer's still surviving point defenses.

Avoiding more cannon fire headed his way, Phoenix weaved between wreckage firing as soon as he left cover into the side of a raider trying a strafing run with it's wingmate on the Hades starboard hanger deck. The last of his bullets took it out but the other still survived.

Flashes lit up the roiling mess off the battlefield as the first colonial ships started to jump. Diving after the other raider that had already started shooting into the open hanger Phoenix hit his boosters and tore past as close as he could to its wing, scraping its wing and cannons. The impact jolting the raider off course and the heat off the engines burning into the raiders skin. Phoenix pulled towards the hanger deck as the now tumbling raider started to explode as it's ammunition started to cook off from the intense backwash.

Crashing to the deck, Cain's Viper bounced in the .4g conditions almost hitting three tightly packed Vipers and coming down again twenty metres further, sliding to a halt thanks to the result of the maneuvering thrusters.

The Cylons kept firing into the last of the fleet as the Valkyrie and Hades launched their packages before jumping after the rest of the fleet.

* * *

**Caprica**

**Presidential bunker**

Standing staring at the view of the battle between BSG16 and the twenty strong Cylon fleet President Adar was shocked at the destruction he saw. How the group sliced into the core of the Twenty strong Cylon fleet, cutting a swathe of destruction as they launched vipers and then raptors which jumped out. Some reappearing near to a large Viper/Raider battle destroying the Raiders there and their reinforcements. The others actually destroying 3 Basestars whilst BSG16 cut through to the other side of the cylon fleet, and jumped out after destroying 7 Basestars.

Just when he thought it was all over, that the Fleet had done all it could and left, ten incredibly large flashes filled the night sky as ten 50 megatonne nuclear warheads detonated taking another 4 basestars with them and heavily damaging the rest, even ripping spars off some. Adar was shocked beyond words.

"Frak..." looking the President in the eyes General Grear uttered "Nukes. The Cylons are starting to launch nukes"

Picking up the microphone Adar reconnected to the arrays "This is President Adar. We surrender. We surrender unconditionally...For the love of Gods we surrender!"

* * *

**Well that's the end of one chapter and part of the batyle of Caprica. Next chapter we'll be rejoining the Caprica defense fleet, seeing what happened to Picon's fleet, and rejoining Nagala. We will also catch up with Adama.**

**I hope you liked this chapter, i wasn't too sure i could handle a viper battle.**

**I'd also like to thankyou for reviewing. I wanted to show how different the cylon conquest could have been if the colonies had a few minutes warning.**


	5. Chapter 5 Tears of Blood

**I own nothing etc.**

* * *

**Chapter 5 Tears of Blood**

* * *

**Battlestar Galactica**

**18 minutes after Cylon Incursion**

Commander Adama stared in shock at what he was reading, his blue eyes glazing with tears that would never fall. This is the worst defeat in history he thought to himself as he read the message he had just received from Virgon. The first solid piece of intelligence since this war had started.

Saul stood by his friend's shoulder, the alcohol tainting his breath, just adding to the inferno that his soul had turned into as he read the message from Nagala. At first he had thought the message from the Graystones was a joke, a retirement prank, but he trusted his friend more than he trusted himself...and then this.

Commander Adama had Dee patch him into the ship, picking up the phone when she nodded it was done. Wrapping the cord around the handle and holding it like a microphone, Adama saw all eyes in the CIC turn to him, the worry evident on their faces. Taking a breath, he spoke;

"This is the Commander.

"Moments ago this ship receieved word that we are under attack by the Cylons..." Crew all around the ship, already at Battle stations stopped what they were doing as what they already suspected was confirmed.

Adama's voice continued from the hundreds of speakers littering the battle hardened ship."We do not yet know the true size, strength or disposition of the Cylon forces but all indications and estimates point towards the Cylons vastly outnumbering us.

"Admiral Nagala has taken command of the fleet aboard the Battlestar Atlantia...following the destruction of Picon fleet headquarters and Scorpia fleet shipyards in the first wave of attacks..." Crew members stood in shock hearing this, the pain would come later.

Adama's voice strengthened "How this could have happened, why it happened are unimportant right now..." His voice reaching a roar "all that does matter is that as of right now we are at war. Youre ready for this, youve trained for this, stand to your duties, stand by your shipmates and we'll get through this".

His words, from every speaker on every deck and in every compartment echoed in the hearts of every crew member, emboldering them, empowering them until all that was left was the hope and knowledfe that they would survive the raging storm.

Strength dieing down Adama finished "You will receive further updates as we get them. May the Lords watch over us and our families".

Resting the phone back in it's receiver Adama turned to see the untested crew of the Galactica returning to work with a vigour they never knew they had. Looking at Colonel Saul Tigh, Adama said "We need our planes back Saul". Glancing at Dee, "Get on the horn to Boomer, get their position and inform them that we are coming for them. If they encounter the Cylons they are not to engage, tell them to scatter and run" Adama ordered, thoughts of the Cylon Virus in his mind.

"Yes sir" Dee replied getting to work raising Boomer.

Saul standing by the Commander at the Dradis console muttered, "It's going to take hours clearing them of their networks". Nodding Adama replied "I know. Saul, I want Kara out of hack" seeing the look cross Saul's face Adama continued "She's our best pilot, do it".

Nodding Saul left for the brig.

* * *

**Caprica Orbit**

**BSG83. Admiral Perry commanding**

**Battlestar Valiant. Flagship. **

**11 mins after Cylon incursion.**

Admiral Perry watched as his squadrons of Vipers went largely unaffected by the Cylon Virus, which he soon found out was thanks to the Graystones interference.

Using this new help to his advantage Perry ordered his fleet of 27 Battlestars and 62 support ships to split up into wolfpacks of 1 Battlestar with 2 or 3 support ships (depending on the size of the Battlestar). Each of these wolfpacks would then attack one of the Basestars descending on Caprica. It was a tactically sound move in terms of taking down as many Basestars as possible before they could launch their nuclear missiles at Caprica.

As the Battlestar Valiant with her 2 escorts (the Chancellor class Gunstar Hermes and the Ghost class light Cruiser Frost) approached their basestar target, the Admiral knew they would not get every Basestar. Caprica would be hit. Just how hard she was to be hit was all that mattered.

"Weapons range in 1 minute sir", the tactical officer informed him.

Looking away from the dradis where he'd been watching his Vipers being decimated without any hope of support and the cylon raider reinforcements launched from a fleet of 20 Basestars holding position past then, the Admiral nodded saying, "Target the centre of the Basestar with bow batteries, constant ripple fire. Fire as soon as we're in range. And tell our escorts to keep any and all Raiders off us"

"Aye sir" she acknowledged.

Just as Admiral Perry thought would happen the Cylons started to launch all their Raiders towards his wolfpack, splitting up into smaller groups the Raiders came for the Valiant from as many angles as they could, every tenth raider with a 10 kilotonne nuclear missile hidden in its shielded bay. Coming from so many angles increased the difficulty of the now manual point defences of the Valiant, Hermes and Frost.

At 30 seconds from weapons range the Raider squadrons started curving in and accelerating towards the Valiant. In return the three ships belched out thousands of shells which blossomed into gold coloured explosions in the faces of the Cylon Raiders. Dozens died from this deadly wall of shrapnel, many more being damaged in some way. But they kept coming.

"Radiological alarm!" the sensors operator called out "Coming from the raiders".A hundred nuclear missiles burst forth homing in on the Valiant just as she entered weapons range of the Basestar, firing her bow cannons as she went one at a time at half second intervals into the center of the Cylon basestar, so that just as the last battery fired the first would have been reloaded and would be ready to fire again.

The nuclear missiles started to slip through the defensive nets of flak striking the mighty Battlestar, shaking her as if in an iron grip. The first ones to her starboard flightpod, slamming into her specially designed armour plated hull. The Battlestar just took it as she ploughed on. Her crew however, were thrown to the ground, the balistic glass lining the entrance to the CIC flexing that much it shattered into a billion pieces.

Gun batteries flared trying to swat the rest of the missiles from the surrounding space, but the results were worse this time as the radiation from the first ones corrupted the dradis. The next wave of missiles struck inside the lower portside flightpod, the intense bright flashes forcing apart welds in the runway, twisting the very fabric of the pod, wiping the LSO's shack from existence and blowing into the hanger and surrounding sections of the ship.

But the mercury class battlestar was an incredibly tough class and even though the Valiant had lost her portside hanger functions she kept on pushing through.

Things would have been a lot worse if there had been Tylium in the hangers tanks, but knowing their Vipers weren't likely to return, the Admiral had ordered it transfered to the main tanks in the main body of the ship and the hangers evacuated of all non essential personnel.

Fires raged throughout the portside hanger, heating the metal of the amunition lockers, threatening to blow them up. In the CIC, the one of the two Deck Chiefs, being one of the few people left standin, vented both the burning portside and the safe starboard hangers to space.

Holding onto the Dradis console for dear life Admiral Perry, with a feral look on his face ordered "Launch all nukes", the keys had already been placed in the slots and the activation codes entered before battle. The XO manning the tactical console due to the normal tactical officer having broken their neck when she had been thrown head first into her console, launched the nukes.

Arching away from the battlestar the missiles were soon struck by the cylon raiders, all but three of them being destroyed straight away, those last three only surviving until missiles launched by the basestar hit them.

The ship shook again, structural beams spearing down from the ceiling and flames bursting from overloaded consoles killing two crew members and seriously injuring a third as more nuclear missiles struck the arms holding the starboard hanger onto the ship ripping the hanger off.

Electricity tore into the main generator in a major feedback pulse blowing the block apart and cutting all power to the ship.

Even as the cruiser and the gunstar continued to fire, the raiders seeing one threat halted turned their attention to the light cruiser Frost throwing all their missiles at it and going into suicide runs, smashing against her body.

* * *

**Caprica Orbit**

**Cylon Reserve Fleet**

**Basestar Kappa Juliet 949 (flagship)**

**14 minutes after Cylon Incursion**

A very striking blonde woman stood with her hands immersed in a flashing red datastream gathering in the data that was this debacle of a battle. It should have been easy, she thought, send the virus, destroy the fleet once they'd been shut down and commence the cleansing of Caprica. Instead...

Instead they'd lost 7 Basestars already and were close to losing 12 more. And it was all thanks to that damn wave of electro-magnetic energy mixed with a code that put even the great Gaius Baltar's best work to shame. "It shouldn't be possible" the number 6 mumbled.

"Evidently it is Nicole" a number 4, James, said with a smirk.

"Frak you" Nicole answered him, her mind on how to defeat the fleet and yet still complete it's goal of tracking all vessels jumping out. She realised thst the Colonial fleet must take precedent. Sending a signal to the hybrid, she ordered it to tell the others to spool their engines and jump in towards the basestars under fire.

Just as they were about to jump, BSG16 jumped into their midst firing everything they had, catching the Cylon fleet off guard.

* * *

**Caprica orbit**

Whilst BSG16 cut into the Cylon reserve flotilla like a hot knife through butter, Battlestars and escorts fought valiantly against the attacking Cylon fleet whilst dozens of civilian vessels and a handful of marinestars rose out of Caprica's gravity well preparing to jump anywhere but here. A variety of tactics were used by the wolfpacks. But these tactics were dependant on the size of the Battlestar.

The heavier, far stronger Battlestars like the Mercury Class tended to attack head on presenting a low profile and going as fast as they could give a full broadside to the Cylon ship before moving on. However due to the lack of speed of the larger classes and their bigger size, the Cylons found it hard to miss them, especially with the Battlestars not working at peak efficiency.

The faster, smaller, more agile and in many ways weaker classes like the Valkyrie Class tended to speed towards a Basestar firing from their bow batteries before turning and sweeping around the Basestar firing at it with missiles and giving it a full broadside. This of course meant that the weaker Battlestar would take more damage, but it also meant that not only could they give more damage, if needed they could slingshot out of danger and be far enough away before the Cylons could react.

Luck it seemed was on the defence fleet's side when BSG16 hit the Cylon reserve fleet, yet raiders and baseships were still tearing through the defense fleet. Nuclear missiles hammering home that fact. The point defenses of the battlestars, specially designed to be networked, weren't able to hold off enough of the raiders or missiles. Missiles which wore down the defenses eventually destroying dozens of ships.

Basestars seeing that their reinforcements were engaged started to fall back from the defense fleet, buying themselves time whilst Basestars not engaged jumped their raiders to their sister ships to aid them. Eventually, the battlestars started to fall.

The Battlestar Solaria died from a fifty kilotonne nuclear missile cracking her topside hull plating and blowing her tylium reserves. The Battlestar Triton from her destroyer escort Giacchino crashing into her engines locked on at full power. The Battlestar Hera in a suicide run on her second Basestar after she took too much damage to carry on fighting. All hands were lost on the Hera. The list goes on.

Eventually all that was left were two heavily damaged Century Class Battlestars, the Odyssey and the Apollo, both with dead jump drives. A dead on its feet Mercury Class called Perseus, a lightly damaged Venus Class battlestar, the Cicero. And finally a damaged Battlestar Valkyrie.

With them were 9 surviving escorts.

* * *

**Caprica orbit**

**Battlestar Valkyrie**

**18 Mins after Cylon Incursion**

Commander Louise Stone struggled to beleive what just happened as the Battlestar Valkyrie and her last surviving escort the Missilestar Isolde swept past one of the evacuating civilian ships, en route to her third Basestar. How Battlestar Group 16 had burst into the middle of the reserve fleet and sent raptors to destroy the cylon raiders hitting her faraway pilots still surprised her.

"Radiological alarm!...Oh Gods...Commander it's the Basestars they're firing" the reserve sensors operator called out.

Shaking her head Stone clenched the cracked Dradis console with a bloody death grip, glass being forced into her palms. Tens of thousands of fleet personnel lost and it still wasn't enough to quench the Cylon's thirst for blood.

"What do we do?" her XO Samantha Connors asked, an agonised look on her beautiful mature face.

Shaking her head Stone gasped, "There's nothing we can do, we've lost".

The CIC hung their heads in silence as thousands of neutron bombs and nuclear missiles fell into Caprica's atmosphere. Civilian ships struggled to take off due to the excess weight on board, more struggled to leave the atmosphere.

Civilians and citizens fought to be on the last ships to leave Caprica's surface not knowing they were already doomed.

Raptors launched from BSG 16 jumped from in the atmosphere.

An army of Ciphers, the survivors of a psychological war on the hybrids in the attacking fleet, many of whom would have lasting brain damage, were ordered to safe locations across the planet.

An unwilling traitor forced to the ground and protected by his Cylon lover.

A scientist and her three friends repositioning ships and double checking equations for maximum effect.

A star pyramid player in high altitude training in the mountains near Delphi.

A resurrected human ensuring that the ciphers are safe.

A transport ship owned by the organisation jumping from low atmosphere.

Some soldiers, hearing the end coming over the wireless and knowing they were going to die, prayed whilst others stepped back from the barriers they had been manning, controlling the influx of evacuating civilians to the still waiting ships. Thousands surged forward through the gaps seeking the refuge of the already packed ships, crushing, trampling and killing thousands in their mad surge, a stampede right out of nature.

Captains fearful for their own lives, cut the umbilicals connecting them to the shipyards and feeding them water, liguid oxygen, nitrogen and tylium. Military officers by their side, ordered here by command to watch over and protect the civilian ships. Those same Captains and officers feeding power to the engines, spooling their jumpdrives, fighting to get their ships in the air as the end drew near. A bright flash surging through the windows.

Mushrooms clouds, roiling in turbulence and nuclear fire surging across the shipyards, destroying buildings and ships. Melting flesh from bone. Millions died instantly.

Neutron bombs detonating over the towns and cities killing all organic life with their high intensity radiation. Hundreds of them, thousands.

And then...

When the nuclear fires had died down...

And the bombs had stopped falling...

Silence.

The great cities, still stood.

All but a few of their inhabitants lay dead.

One more missile came flashing down. Stronger and far deadlier than all others.

This one was specially designed.

Hitting the ground at freedom park in the centre of Caprica City, an explosion buried the nuclear missile hundreds of feet below the surface.

In a bunker far below, a President cried out his voice breaking "WE SURRENDER!"

This time he was answered.

The bomb, hundreds of feet below the ground, exploded. The shockwaves forcing apart the soil, cracking the bedrock and collapsing the roof of the Lair of the Phoenix.

More than 4 billion people lay dead.

The Odyssey and the Apollo turned to leave.

Seeing she couldn't do anything else here Commander Stone ordered those ships whose jump drives were damaged beyond repair to evacuate to the surviving fleet. Then before the Cylons had time to react, her fleet had jumped to collect the few surving vipers left and then to Virgon.

Soon after them the Cylon fleet moved onto Gemenon.

* * *

**Battlestar Valiant**

**25 mins. After Cylon Incursion.**

A face covered in a gas mask, body garbed in an orange jumpsuit, flashlight on the breast pocket and trailing an uncoiling heavy cable, stepped through the shattered glass into the CIC. His flashlight illuminating the smoke filled interior catching on the slumped and dieing body of the Admiral. The CMO doing everything he can to stem the bleeding coming from the Admiral's right thigh.

Handing the cable to a crew member with a burnt face covered in blackened bandages, the Deck Chief went over to the dieing Admiral. "Sir..." his cracked voice catching in his throat as a small handful of terminals in the shattered CIC lit up.

"Chief..." the Admiral croaked "...how bad is it?"

Shaking his head the Chief replied "As bad as it gets sir...We've lost the primary generator, a third of our jump coils, the majority of our engineers and crew...The list goes on sir. As it is we can get 1 maybe 2 short range jumps out of her before she dies".

Gritting his teeth through the pain in his leg the Admiral joked "Sounds better maintained than usual..." The chief and the doctor smiled. "...Very well, if we only have 1 jump left then get us to Virgon. Hopefully Nagala hasn't been hit yet".

Worried the, Chief replied "Sir, we barely have any surviving weapons left..."

"We have one" Perry replied, both of them knowing what he meant.

Twenty minutes later the battered warship jumped to Virgon.

* * *

**Viper sqaudron out of Battlestar Galactica**

**25 minutes after Cylon Incursion**

**Raptor 320/Galactica**

"Dradis contacts" Helo shouted over the wireless to the CAG.

Boomer seeing them, transmitted "I show ten...no make that five new raiders on approach, course 324 karom 110, speed 7 decimal 3. Time to intercept 1 minute 20".

_"Why the frak didn't we see them sooner". _Major Jackson 'Dipper' Spencer, Vigilantes CAG asked over the wireless.

"I'm sorry sir they just jumped in and are throwing up a lot of interference" Boomer replied.

_"All Vipers, break off into 4 man sections. Do not engage the Cylons, just put space between you. These raiders are able to infiltrate our systems"_ Major Jackson Spencer, the Vigilantes CAG called out. Upon receipt of his orders the two squadrons (12 vipers each) that made up his group broke up into 6 four man teams, each heading away from each other.

30 seconds passed before Boomer spoke, "Dipper, we're looking at two, I repeat, two Raiders. One is on a course for our section and the other towards section 3. ETA 15 seconds".

_"Frak...Boomer get clear, you've done all you can"._

Pulling up and away Boomer acknowledged the command.

The two Raiders opened their visors, a red light scrolling back and forth, pulsing as a Virus went out hitting their respective Vipers. Immediately systems shut down on the Vipers sending them into an out of control tumbling motion. Other safe sections could only watch in horror as the Raiders started firing missiles out at the stricken Vipers.

In a bright flash the Battlestar Galactica burst onto the scene, almost immediately firing out museum piece MK-II Vipers towards the enemy, splitting them into two six man sections, each going for its own Raider.

_"All Mark sevens are ordered to land, combat landings authorised. I repeat all Mark sevens are ordered to land..." rang out from the wireless in Boomers Raptor._

The missiles struck. But not before the affected Viper pilots ejected, explosive bolts blowing the cockpit canopies free and the seats rocketing out on collumns of compressed gas. Vipers exploded and disintegrated under the assault, shrapnel blowing into the faces of those Pilots who were unlucky enough to be too close to the Vipers.

One Raider seeing the assault from the old Mk twos coming launched its 3 nuclear missiles at the defenceless Galactica. Vipers further splitting up into 2 three man sections, one going after the nukes and the other the Raider.

The Raider going for a head on attack on the Vipers approaching it, littered space with bullets. The central Viper blowing her ventral thrusters, throwing her out of the bullets plane, at the same time she opened up with her own cannons ripping ripping the port wing off and puncturing deep into the heart of the Raider, effectively killing it from her vantage point.

With time to spare the 3 missiles were taken care of far from Galactica's armored hull.

The other Raider, calculating that attacking the Vipers heading its way would only result in resurrection instead turned its focus on a much closer and easier object.

"The Raider's firing at us...six missiles inbound" Helo shouted at Boomer. Pulling into a series of evasive maneuvers, Boomer dropped one if it's decoys, tricking one missile into following it.

"Frak! I'm dropping the rest" Boomer said. Four more missiles were fooled into attacking the two decoys. But all that was needed was one.

As the four missiles exploded when they hit the decoys, a great cavalcade of shrapnel was blown out, some striking the Raptor, puncturing a hole into its cabin and blowing through Helo's leg. Air was sucked out of the cabin until Helo slapped a clamp over the hole. But they were done they new it. The vipers were just too far away taking care of the last Raider.

With just metres seperating them Boomer called out "Jump" as she performed a blind jump. The last missile, caught in the vortex of the jump, exploded adding its shrapnel and shockwave to the disappearing Raptor's hull.

* * *

**Battlestar Galactica**

**28 mins after Cylon Incursion**

"Sir, Boomer just jumped" leiutenant Felix Gaeta called out.

"What?" Colonel Tigh replied, "Why?" his attention had been on the first raider being taken out by Starbuck.

"She was being pursued by a missile sir, I beleive she used up all her dummies. I...I think it was a blind jump sir. She wouldn't have had time to calculate one", Felix answered downheartedly.

Adama looking down from the dradis where the last raider had been destroyed muttered "And so it begins". Looking at Tigh "Colonel dispatch the rescue raptors. Once they're in, recall all vipers and jump us to Ragnar. I'll be in my office".

The Colonel carried out the orders.

Soon after they found out that Captain Baker, Leiutenant Welch, Leiutenant Tate and Major Spencer had been killed in action.

* * *

**Well the end of another chapter. It was originally going to be longer but in the end, the main focus of this chapter was the Battle of Caprica.**

**At the end I've put up a timeline of the known war so far. This is mainly because even I was confused by the current times.**

**Be back soon with the next chapter. Reviews appreciated.**

* * *

Times

5 minutes. Scorpia fleet shipyards destroyed.

8 minutes. President arrives

8.5 mins. picon hq destroyed

9 mins. nuclear bombardment of Scorpia commences.

10 mins. Caprica antivirus works

11 mins. CDF vipers engage raiders

11 mins. Admiral Perry CDF Valiant launches attack on Cylon Fleet

12 mins. Picon's fleet destroyed

15 mins. Nagala takes command.

15 mins. Graystones confirm antivirus works

15 mins. BSG16 arrives caprica

15.5 mins. raptors-1 destroy second wave raiders

16.5 mins. raptors-1 destroy first wave raiders.

16.5 mins. raptors-2 destroy basestars.

17.5 mins. BSG16 jumps out

18 mins. Galactica receives news Nagala in command.

18.5 mins. Basestars nuke Caprica.

19 mins. nuclear bombardment of Picon commences.

25 mins. Caprica Defence fleet jumps to Virgon.


	6. Chapter 6 Conquest

**I own nothing etc.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 6. Conquest.**

* * *

**Helios Beta System**

**13.2 AU**

**Colonial Fleet Salvage Yards Alpha (The Boneyards)**

**BSG-16**

**Battlestar Defiant**

**17.5 mins. After Cylon Incursion**

Bursting into existence far beyond the warmth of Helios Beta, came the battered and bruised fleet that was BSG-16. At first it was only the one ship, the Battlestar Talon still firing her guns at a now unseen enemy and hull plates crumbling off, it couldn't be denied that she had been in a tough fight. And then the other ships of BSG-16 started jumping in, some even worse off. Destroyers, cruisers, gunstars, missilestars and battlestars followed until all that was left to jump in was the Hades.

Flashing into existence, fissures running along her starboard bow and flightpod, scorch marks running along her entire hull, Hades looked like Hell.

Leaning on the Dradis table, a rough bandage held to his head, Commander Robert Hall tried to smile. The Colonials had gained a victory, but at too high a price he thought. His ships would need extensive repair to have another great victory, Vipers would have to be repaired. Pilots would have to be trained. But most of his people were still alive for now, and that's all he could ask for.

"Sir, all ships except the Andromeda and Arcadia have reported in. We have confirmed reports they were destroyed. Damage reports from the Yarbrough and the Hektor are...it's bad sir. The chiefs beleive they should be evacuated and scrapped. We're still waiting on reports from Memphis but we don't expect a good one.".

It was all to be expected, the commander thought to himself. You don't jump into the jaws of death and expect to escape unscathed. "I would rather we didn't...frak we need every ship we can get...if there's no other way to get those ships patched up in the next hour, then the crews are ordered to evacuate them as soon as possible, spread them out amongst the ships that need them most".

"Dradis contacts!"

"Our Raptors or the pickets?"

"Neither sir, transponders read as them belonging to Enterprise Solutions and..."

"And what?"

"Leonis Estates Sparkling Wines sir. Theres 103 ships sir of various sizes. They're mixed in amongst the decomissioned vessels sir".

"Incoming Communication, it's coming from the Medstar Panacea".

"They're reactivating the ships...Patch me through" After a nod the Commander spoke into his headset, "Panacea this is Defiant Actual. You are in a restricted zone, explain your intentions or be fired upon".

A voice came over the wireless, "Defiant this is Tamalyn Adams, I represent the Graystones, we all do. We're currently reactivating what ships we can to aid in rescue efforts back in the colonies. Firing upon us would be a mistake, we are loyal to the Colonies".

"Whilst I respect what you are doing, those are Colonial Military Warships. Not some run of the mill transport..."

"We understand that Commander, 80% of our personnel are ex fleet, we know how to operate these ships. And we fully understand that they're yours by right..."

"What are you taking and what do you intend to do?"

"We're requisitioning the Medstar Panacea and the destroyer Achilles, along with a squadron of Mark 2 Vipers and Cobra Transports. We plan on getting as many people off the hit colonies as we can".

"Okay, I guess I can respect that. But I cannot allow you to take those ships... Frak, Gods help me...Ms Adams, I need you to transmit to me the personnel of all your people as soon as possible. I'm going to reactivate their commission".

* * *

**Cylon Command Basestar**

**Border of Cyranus System**

**35 mins. After Cylon Incursion**

"IT'S A CLUSTERFRAK! THEY KNEW WE WERE COMING. WE'VE LOST HALF...HALF OF CAPRICA'S CLEANSING FLEET! THIS...THIS IS YOUR FAULT CAVIL, YOU PUSHED US WAY TOO EARLY". The voice of the Six, Natalie, bore into the room shocking the six other models present.

"We've been hit hard Sister, but we are still far stronger than the Colonials. Nothing they do can stop us now. We've taken out more than half their Battlestars and need I remind you, we were all in concensus about the course and timing of action", One, John Cavil replied, a smirk crossing his face as he steepled his crude organic fingers together.

"Sister, whilst they may have hit us harder than we thought possible, surely you must realise that we have broken them. Caprica, Tauron, Scorpia, Picon, Gemenon, have all been cleansed. Whatever humans live on those planets now can put up no organised resistance..." an attractive 3 with a Picon, Queenstown accent, said.

"What about the Graystones? From our communications intercepts they're responsible for blocking the Virus..." Natalie continued.

A number 4, Simon spoke in a deep but deceivingly caring voice, "The Graystones are dead, their entire family was wiped out in the first war. What I beleive we are looking at here is a terrorist org..."

"Terrorists? Really? From what I can see they'll be patriots to the Colonials. They warned them of our attack mere minutes before we were in place. They jammed our Virus. They damaged three...three Hybrids, something, need I add that should be impossible. That certainly sounds like the work of Daniel Graystone to me. Only he would understand us enough to hurt us so hard..."

Listening to this in his zoned out state, a 2, Leoben Conoy interrupted, remembering a fragment of their shared past, "No, you are wrong Sister, and yet oh so right at the same. The hybrids spoke of 'A thousand whisperers, Orchestrated by the Avenging Angels, Speaking from the minds world, Singing their chorus unto the heavens"

Exasperated John interrupted "Just what are you getting at Two? "

"What was Daniel Graystone's second greatest achievement? Holobands and V world".

"Outlawed technology" a 5 in a lime green suit, supplied.

"True. But a thousand whisperers could be a thousand Ciphers. The minds world, V world and their song, the interference. And what better name to call themselves than the Graystones".

Leaning forward Cavil asked "And just how would they know we were going to attack?"

"They hacked the defence mainfraim from inside. As soon as we knocked out the ribbon they knew something was wrong" Simon supplied, finally starting to beleive that their was some truth in what Leoben was saying.

"Surely we would have known they were inside. Six went through the mainframe" Doral questioned.

"If there hacks of it were as good as their jamming's level of sophistication then we wouldn't have seen it unless we were looking for it" Eight added.

"None of this matters. We need to stay focused on the matter at hand. The eradication of the humans. We shouldn't be hit as hard as we were at Caprica. It was a fluke, nothing more. No other planet was ever as closely networked as Caprica", Cavil said bringing them full circle.

"Then I propose we bring in our reinforcements. We're going to need every ship we can get to destroy the Colonial Fleet. We also need to change tactics" Natalie said.

"And just what tactics might these be, hmm. Hit and run?"

Shaking her head D'anna ventured "Instead of focussing on the Colonial Fleet. Take out their colonies. Deny them every bit of safeground we can. In the end they'll pull all of their ships back to the last Colonie left. And that is where we will bring our full strength to bare".

"Nodding Cavil said "We'll lose a lot of ships. They should find the backdoors in the next hour, now that they know of them".

Simon nodded "It will be a hard battle. Nagala is calling all ships to Virgon".

"Then he's making our job easier" Natalie replied.

Clapping his hands together Cavil asked "So are we in agreement?" After they all nodded they set to work.

* * *

**The boneyards**

**BSG 16**

**Battlestar Hades**

**36 mins. After Cylon Incursion.**

Exhaustion crept up on Cain the moment his feet hit the deck as the adrenaline that had fueled his body slipped away as quickly as it came during the all too brief, but far too deadly battle he had just partaken. All around him on this crowded deck pilots were collapsing by their Vipers as they too felt what Cain felt...emptiness.

As great as their victory had been, they all knew that Caprica's chances were slim at best. And what was a victory if you lost the war, you couldn't celebrate it, you couldn't dance from the rafters in joy. Most of all you could not let the defeat control you.

Looking at his Viper, Cain knew that it would take hours to get it ready for battle again. The stabilisers were shot and the entire starboard wing would have to be scrapped. And that was just what could be seen.

"Captain...Cain?" an overweight deckhand with thining brown hair asked looking at the name tag on Cain's Viper.

"Yeah that's me"

Holding out a clipboard the deckhand asked Cain to sign it and state his home he'd signed it Cain said "Where do you need me, I'm fully qualified as a deck chief and it looks like you could use an extra pair of hands".

"Thank frak. We've got Mark twos coming in half an hour. We need to clear the deck and try to fix some mark sevens. Half our crew is working on patching up the ship".

"Don't bother with mine, it'll take too long", Cain replied as he followed him down the deck.

* * *

**Virgon orbit**

**BSG 57**

**Battlestar Atlantia (Colonial fleet flagship)**

**36 mins after Cylon Incursion.**

"Dradis Contacts...reading Raptor 310/Galactica sir. Codes check out"

Letting out the breath he'd been holding every time a Dradis Contact had been announced since he took command, Acting Fleet Admiral Robert Nagala spoke, "Open a channel...This is Atlantia actual to Raptor 310. What's the status of the Galactica?"

"Raptor 310 Racetrack, Atlantia. Commander Adama sends his respects and informs you that the Galactica is rearaming at Ragnar. Eta is 45 minutes", Racetrack replied.

"Thank the Gods. We could use Bill's help" the admiral muttered, then speaking more audibly, "Very well, you're to land in the starboard bay. I'll be giving you new orders for Commander Adama".

Before Racetrack could reply the Dradis operator called out "Dradis contacts, I read almost 200 contacts. Read as raptors belonging to BSG 16".

Oh gods another group destroyed thought Nagala as the Raptors opened contact "Raptor 205, Atlantia...Defiant actual sends his greetings...", the hard as nails voice of Trojan said.

"By the gods...Raptor 205, Actual where are they?"

"They should be at the Boneyards sir, ETA is one hour, the Commander wanted to pick up some Mark two's sir".

"Smart fraker".

" Admiral...Caprica's b...She's been nuked sir...", Nagala almost collapsed at the news as Raptor 205 continued, "...it was a full bombardment sir, a mixture of neutron bombs and thermonuclear missiles in the 25 to 50 megatonne range. We're currently carrying survivors and more made it off in civilian ships. Her fleets were decimated sir. Before we jumped only a handful of Battlestars were left in orbit".

"Gods...Raptor 205, we ca...You are to jump to Ragnar Anchorage in 10 minutes. There you will meet the Galactica. You are ordered to offload the survivors onto the station and return to your ships. Was there any word on the President or the Quarum?"

"The President was in the Phoenix Lair. We don't know about the quarum sir. But before we jumped the President...he...he surrendered sir".

"He did the right thing when it comes down to it. For now we all need to focus..."

"Sir...we've just received word from the Graystones. They've found how the Cylons are getting in. There's a backdoor in the CNP. They said the backdoor doesn't look like Dr Baltar's work" the Wireless operator announced.

"Frak...that code's in most of our fleet"

"It's worse sir, it's in our satelites".

* * *

**Cyrannus Trinary Star System**

**52 mins. After Cylon Incursion.**

Pulling in an extra 200 Basestars from the border the Cylons went to work moving through the Colonial star sytem with virtual ease. Instead of attacking the fleets first as had been the original plan, and instead of splitting up the fleet into smaller groups of eighty odd Basestars and risking Nagala's growing fleet jumping in and destroying them. The Cylons regrouped their ships into one fleet of 328 Basestars, hitting the Colonial planets one at a time.

Jumping into orbit of what was seen as the 'bread basket' of the Colonies, the Cylon Armada overran Aerilon's meager defences of 20 picket ships and 1 Battlestar, the Helios with a full launch of tens of thousands of Raiders with close support from the Basestars themselves. Nothing was left of the valiant fleet who stood alone against the Cylons. With nothing left in orbit to remotely threaten them a complete bombardment of Aerilon began.

Thousands of Neutron bombs fell on the towns and cities quickly followed by dozens of Thermonuclear missiles striking the military bases, government districts and shipyards. Hundreds of thousands of colonials disappeared in bright flashes of light before the nuclear missiles. Within just minutes, out of a population of 1.2 billion, more than 1 billion were dead.

Those who would survive out in the farmlands and beyond, IF they survived the nuclear fallout, would do so with the threat of a follow-on Cylon occupation hanging over their heads, as it had been during the first war. The only difference was that back then they got off lightly and had 11 other Colonies to rely on.

Leaving the graveyard that was Aerilon behind, the Cylon armada jumped towards Libra. With only picket ships to defend the planet the Cylon armada pretty much ignored them, only sending a hundred Raiders their way and keeping the rest docked as the basestars started to break up into smaller groups, ready to spread across the planet.

Jumping in came four separate and yet coordinated strengthened Battlestar groups out of Virgon. Two streamed down the flanks of the Cylon Armada, hitting the Cylons as hard as they could without launching their Vipers.

At the same time, recreating the tactics of Battlestar group 16, two more battlestar groups jumped in towards the centre of the armada, losing a destroyer before they could fire, when it jumped into a Basestar wiping them both out. Opening up with everything they had, the two groups stayed together and then diverged, confusing the Cylons.

Hundreds of Raptors, taken from every ship and base at Virgon, caused further mayhem by jumping throughout the Cylon fleet launching their full complement of tactical nuclear missiles and then jumped out.

Basestars were being crushed by the titanic forces being thrust against them and their reaction to this turn of events was expected as hundreds of thousands of Raiders were launched. Many of the nuclear missiles launched against the Cylon fleet were pounced upon by the Raiders. Out of the thousands of missiles fired, only a bare 48 broke through and hit the Cylon basestars resulting in only 9 destroyed ships and a dozen damaged ships.

The battlestar groups started jumping away as soon as the Raiders started to throw missiles their way. Already the Battlestar groups were starting to falter, if they stayed any longer they knew that they would be destroyed. The great ships of the Colonial Fleet started jumping out in bright flashes of light.

However 9 ships were too heavily damaged to perform a jump, so accelerating to full power, the damaged ships stormed towards a Cylon Basestar each. Hundreds of missiles flared against the defensive fire of these valiant ships. Dozens of these missiles broke through, hammering against these ballistic ships, cracking open the hulls like walnut shells.

Raiders turned into kamikaze runs, their missiles spent, aiming for the engine blocks, some managed to break through the flak fire, exploding into fountains of fire against the engines which split into two, releasing their pent up energy in huge, cataclysmic explosions. 3 gunstars and 2 Battlestars died this way. The other 4 ships, a Battlestar, 2 Gunstars and 1 Missilestar stayed on course for their targets, all surviving gun and missile battery firing into the swarm that was the Cylon fleet.

Hulls splitting against the Basestars as they hit, the Colonial's mighty engines and the basic forces of the universe, forced the Colonial ships further on. Ruptured Tylium tanks and unspent ammunition bloomed into Gods almighty explosions destroying both the suicidal Colonial ships and the hit Cylon ships. Debris thrust away by the force of the explosions hit some of the surrounding Cylon Basestars, one being destroyed outright by part of one of the Basestars 'star's', half a dozen more suffered damage from smaller pieces of debris.

And then it was over. The colonial fleet was gone from the battlefield, and the quickly reorganising Cylon fleet continued in it's advance on Libra.

* * *

**Well finally finished the most annoying Chapter yet. It just didn't want to come together. This chapter is mainly being used to set up the next one or two.**

**Also when it comes to raptor designations, I don't know how they did it in Galactica, but in this story, the designation 310/Galactica translates as: 3rd Raptor squadron, 10th Raptor out of Galactica. There will be 12 in a full squadron. Galactica, as she was being decomissioned and only had one operating landing bay, only has one squadron left which is 3rd Squadron.**

**Hope you review next chapter should be better.**

**Below you will find the current ships in BSG 16 although this is only temporary. **

* * *

Bsg 16

Battlestar Defiant. Valkyrie Class. 12 years old.

Battlestar Talon. Venus Class. Mid sized battlestar 20 years old.

Battlestar Hades. Olympic Class. Larger than a mercury class by 100metres. 35 years old.

Battlestar Hunter. Hunter Class. Prototype one of a kind 220 metres larger than Valkyrie. First class with four landing bays. 32 years old.

* * *

Destroyers

Useb. Trinity class

Arrow. Trinity class

Venturer. Trinity class

Yarbrough. Prophet class. to be evacuated

* * *

Light Cruisers

Honour. Knight Class

Strobe. Kelman Class

Raya. Kelman Class

* * *

Heavy cruisers

Icarus

Calypso

* * *

Gunstars

Ida.

Andromeda. destroyed

Heracles

Hector. to be evacuated

Sol Invictus

MemphisLoki

* * *

Missilestars

Kestral

Myrmidon

Arcadia. destroyed


	7. Chapter 7 Nemea

**Chapter 7 Nemea**

* * *

**Caprica Orbit**

**Raptor 312/Galactica Boomer and Helo**

**28 minutes after Cylon Incursion**

Flashing into existence over the nuclear wasteland that was Caprica came a damaged bug shaped Raptor. Steam vented from the entire hull, evidence of the 500 degrees explosion it had just survived, this steam however, was quickly obscured by an ever increasing heat as plasma built up around the Raptor's tumbling hull as she crashed through the upper atmosphere of Caprica. A streak of plasma followed her descent as her Pilot and ECO struggled to control the tumbling craft.

Flipping the master switch off and then counting the spins in the rotation of the Raptor whilst G forces threatened to crush her spine. Struggling to keep her eyes open as they clouded over, Boomer caught the flash of a moon. Flipping the master switch as soon as she saw this, the two large engines that made up the Raptor, came to life at full power, thrusting the ship forward at ten degrees below the horizon breaking the ship out of it's mad fall. Blood quickly reasserted it's control of her body, allowing her more or less free control over her aching limbs. Steadying the descent of the now safely falling Raptor, Boomer called back, "Karl, you still awake?"

"Frak..." leiutenant Agathon groaned, pulling himself back to his board, "Yeah, just about", reading the information scrolling down his board, "...we're at Caprica...70 miles south of Cap City. We're going to need to set down for repairs, we've got red on the undercarage".

Bringing the Raptor into true atmosphere, the Plasma that had encased the ship all but disappeared, the outer hull burning a red hot glow, and seemed to shimmer in the cool atmosphere, Boomer said, "See if you can raise command, we should be close..."

"Gods no...Boomer, I'm reading high amounts of radiation in the atmosphere, strongest over Cap City, Elgin, Memphis...Delphi. Gods...they've all been hit...I can't raise command, I've got a handful of weak wireless contacts but that's it".

"There must be someone!" Boomer cried back.

"Boomer, there are no fleet ot government signals...we're going to need to land at the Isolde Plains. It should be clear", Karl replied sending her the nav data, struggling with the concept of so much death.

"Okay...setting her down". Tears streamed down Boomer's helmet covered face as the Raptor continued it's descent.

The verdent looking land of Caprica flashing by beneath them. Dust clouds yet to settle over the lush land. Soon the wildlife and the biology would be faced with the harshness that came with a nuclear fallout. Land and seas would be laced with rapidly dieing radiation, specially designed to have a half life of only two years. Streaming towards the plains came a boy of only fourteen, a young mother and her newborn baby, and a famous scientist that many would see as being the man responsible for the attacks, if only because his program had the backdoor the Cylons used. Their destination when they finally joined up would be the Isolde Plains.

* * *

**Caprica system**

**Colonial civilian fleet under command of Secretary Roslin**

**Colonial Heavy**

**52 minutes after Cylon Incursion**

"Secretary Roslin, we've regained contact with Fleet Command" Captain Lee Adama said as he sat down. For everyone around him this war was killing them, but not Lee, for once in his life he felt that he had a purpose, a fire was burning inside driving him forward.

Taking off her glasses, Laura asked, "I thought Picon had been hit, who's in command now?" As naive as she was of the Military, she did know that the military always had multiple contingencies in place and had spread its resources about the colonies.

"Admiral Nagala, he was third in command, but he's acting Fleet Admiral now. Command is currently based out of Virgon with a backup at Leonis. He...he's put martial law into effect until a new President is sworn in, and maybe for a bit longer afterwards".

Rubbing her eyes Laura asked, "Any word on the Quorum or th..." Laura couldn't find the words to continue.

"How far?" Lee knew that their was a line of succession, he just didn't know it past the twelth person on it.

"46th" Laura replied, a weariness lacing her voice.

Handing her a sheet of paper, "I received this over this list over the wireless. It's everyone who has signed list starts at 51".

Reading it and seeing how few names there were on it and how most of them were under-secretaries, or members of the three Royal families (Leonis, Canceron and Virgon) and the graveness of it all settled on her. "Will Admiral Nagala support me?"

"I don't know if you know, but I serve under Nagala on Atlantia. He's an honourable man...I think he will support you finishing Adar's term, but..."

Raising an eyebrow Laura asked "But?"

"If I know Nagala and the fact we're in a war with most of our government destroyed...we're looking at mid to long term martial law until the government is back on it's feet".

Clasping his hands, Laura replied, "That Captain Apollo, I can understand. Lets hope the individual governments survive so we have a basis for a Quorum. Now...now we need a Priest".

* * *

**Picon Orbit**

**Battlestar Atlantia**

**1 hour 8 minutes after Cylon Incursion**

"Admiral, the next wolfpack should be ready to leave in five minutes. The Destroyer Red Blood is just repairing her ftl".

Looking up from the ever increasing mound of documents he was reading Admiral Robert Nagala nodded, "Good, we need to wear the frackers down John", lowering his voice, "I fear we may have already lost, I'm putting forward a mass evacuation".

"Evacuation to where sir. The colonies are fracked if we fail".

"Kobol. It's out there somewhere, or...or Earth if it exists. As it is, nowhere in the colonies is safe anymore. Frak we might as well jump into Toaster territory, it's probably safer". Picking up a porcelain cup, centuries old and still pristine, Nagala drank from it. The cup itself was an antique the Admiral had never before used, but if he was to die today, then he wanted to know what it felt like to drink from a five million cubit cup.

"Paul, we've got a school teacher doing far better than what we are, Secretary Roslin has managed to pull together a civilian fleet. Hundred's of ships. She's evacuating those without jumpdrive's and I've ordered her to jump to Ragnar as soon as possible. I've also got the 103rd under command of General Ash enroute to their current position to safeguard those ships".

"Groundbashers? Sir if you're to send anyone, send the marines, they have the necessary training for ship based..."

"I have sent a hundred marines with them and the 40 members of the Praetorian guard we had here. But as it is we need all the marines we can get. Now we've disconnected our networks, you should have no doubt that the Cylons will try and board us".

"What about supplies and protection if they're to leave the colonies?"

"We're stripping all the anchorages that we can. And every third ship leaving the surface is being loaded with supplies...they'll have to seperate the supplies themselves. As for protection...whatever survives".

"Admiral..." a leiutenant called out "...the Cylons have just jumped into range of Leonis".

"Get the wolfpacks ready to jump and have the stealth raptors get us the intel we need on the toasters positions".

* * *

**RagnarRagnar Anchorage**

**Battlestar Galactica**

**1 hour 12 minutes after Cylon Incursion**

"They look just like us Saul. Skin, blood...everything", a bloodied and bruised Commander Adama said, cradling his aching head and trying to mop up some of the blood.

"Dear Gods anyone of us could be one..." his ever present friend and ally replied.

"We can't let this get out to the general population, Saul. There would be anarchy in the fleet, friends and enemies accusing each other of being Cylons", Adama envisioned the nightmare ahead.

"I take it you're telling Fleet Actual and the spooks?"

"Can't not. Let's just hope that they know what to do".

Breaking through the silence that crept up on them came the voice of Leiutenant Gaeta over the intercomm, "Could the Commander or XO get in contact with the CIC".

Colonel Tigh, picking up a nearby handset said "Tigh here, I'm with the Commander...", listening in Saul turned to Adama saying, "We've just heard from Kara. She's guiding in Racetrack and the Raptor Contingent of BSG16. Racetrack is carrying orders from Command".

Feeling anguish pass over his soul at the thought of losing the wise Commanders of BSG16 that had unoficially been named The Old Gaurd after their refusal to allow networks, and the fact that many had served in the first war, and the loss of their able bodied crews, Adama replied "Tell them I'll meet Racetrack in the hanger. We won't be able to take on so many Raptors, so have what we can handle land in the Port hanger and the rest either dock at our ports or land on Ragnar".

After tigh relayed the instructions, both set off for the Port hanger deck.

Watching from the balcony as the first of many Raptors was wheeled in, five marine fireteams at the ready both on the balcony and below them, as per orders during a time of war.

Stepping down to meet Racetrack and Skulls, Commander Adama and Colonel Tigh returned the salute they gave.

Handing Commander Adama a tan manilla folder with bold black lines bordering it, "These are your orders from Admiral Nagala...".

Once Adama took it, Racetrack reached into her pocket, a grin crossing her face as she held out a plain black box to him, opening it to reveal two gold, diamond shaped pins, "...Admiral Adama".

Standing stock still, a wave of emotion rushed through Adama as he reached out to cradle the box. "I'd given up hope of ever becoming Admiral. But now...these feel like they carry too high a price".

"Frak Bill, you deserve them more than most of the fleet" Colonel Tigh broke in, slapping his friend on the back.

Looking at Saul, Bill's sea blue eyes burning into him, a gruffness came to Bill's voice, "That's the problem Saul, we've lost most of the fleet. There's the proof", he said pointing to the taxying Raptors of BSG16.

Skulls, towering over Admiral Adama shook his head saying, "BSG16 is still largely intact sir. Those Raptors are carrying survivors from Caprica. Admiral Nagala didn't want to risk them on Picon or the other colonies".

"16's last known position was the Boneyards Admiral, getting as many Mark 2 Vipers as they could to make up for losses after they hit the Cylon fleet that assaulted Caprica".

Looking at his own Vipers in their bays, many the new Mk sevens and his own squadron of Mark twos that without networks would outclass the newer models, Adama knew that they had made the right decision. "What are our orders for the refugees?"

"At the moment sir, they're to be placed on the anchorage sir".

**L**

* * *

**eonis**

**Cylon Invasion Fleet**

**Cylon Command Basestar**

**1 hour 16 minutes after Cylon Incursion**

Cavil stood in front of a shimmering red display with representatives of every Cylon model around him, feeling as the fleet jumped into Leonosian Orbit. He saw the sparse collection of picket ships awaiting his fleet and something surprising.

"Where the frak is the rest of the Nemean shipyard?" Cavil all but shouted to the room at large.

A Doral model immersing himself into the data stream, replied "I don't know. It looks like they've jumped out the shipyards. All that's left is the modules unfit for jumping and a few gantries..."

"I can see that you fool. But where did they jump it to".

"Picon, it has to be or one of the Oort clouds" Simon suggested.

"Maybe one of the outlying..." D'Anna was saying before being interrupted by Natalie.

"It doesn't matter where it is. We came here to destroy Leonis. Everything else is unimportant for now. We need to spread our ships for when Nagala attacks and spread a third of our raiders between the fleet".

Nodding at the tactical mindset of the Six, Cavil agreed.

Moving forward towards the planet, the Basestars sent a further third of their remaining Raiders ahead of them to launch their nukes at key locations both across and in orbit of Leonis. The Picketships regrouping as one body in front of the Raiders, presenting their dorsal aspects to the raiders in order to have as many guns as possible firing at the oncoming Raiders.

As the raiders neared firing range of the small fleet, the leading ranks of Cylons started to shutdown, their momentum carrying them forward as their engines went cold. Other raiders behind them started to shutdown and drift into each other. The perfect formation breaking down as the raiders passed an invisible wall, raiders at the rear broke formation aiming to get as far from it as possible. Cavil smashed his hand into the data stream, anger coursing through him "What happened?"

Simon stooped over his own data stream, flinched as he felt the raw data feed his mind. "There's...there's a field of energy surrounding most of the planet like the one at Caprica...but stronger".

"Impossible, Caprica's networks pre-liberation were far more extensive..."

"It isn't the network that's more advanced, it's the power and virus behind it. At Caprica it was focused into jamming us...here, here it's focused into attacking us...we need to get the hybrids to find the source", Simon replied.

"Do it", Cavil ordered. "I'm pulling back the raiders. We should try to probe this wall of theirs, their groundbased arrays only cover so much of the planet".

* * *

**Leonis**

**Graystone Compound**

**1 hour 16 minutes after Cylon Incursion**

With the blinking lights of holobands over their eyes, Daniel and Zoe Graystone fathomed their minds into the network that covered Leonis, but hadn't been used in decades. Powerplants were forced into channeling insane amounts of energy into the dozens of communications arrays dotting the planet, and those arrays were realligned so as to cover as much of the planet as possible. This was mainly thanks to a handful of individuals working inside the powerplants or arrays.

Once all this was done, the intellectual mind of Daniel and the instictual mind of Zoe worked together using the knowledge gained by the Ciphers on Caprica, to weave a virus to break through the minds of the raiders approaching the planet. Dozens of incredible highly charged codes were sent out from the numerous arrays, sweeping away from the planet, weaving in with the seperate waves whilst carrying on past the picket ships towards the raiders.

Sweeping into the ranks of raiders, the intricate code didn't break into the Cylon Raiders, but rather secreted itself into them. Once it was into the organo-synthetic brain of the raiders, the code followed pathways that the Graystones had expected, pathways that as different as they are, were in the very first Artificial beings and as these pathways were the Cylon equivelant of a central nervous system, the code had access to the vast majority of the raider.

Even in the very first of the Cylon race, the U-87, their was the very basis of this central nervous system, albeit in a very basic way of silicone and wires attached to optical sensors, pressure sensors attached to the armour, gyroscopes, power packs. Everything that made the U-87 what it was, was interconnected in this system. Of course, because the colonials wanted a clear distinction between human and cylon, and so as not to offend the Gods, it was never called a central nervous system by the Colonials, instead it was known as the internet, the intenal network. Now the Cylons, in mostly their semi-organic state, knew it as a central nervous system.

Needless to say, once the virus gained access to this network, it had very clear objectives, shutting down containment on tylium reactors, reversing course, entering balistic courses, shutting down the reactors, blowing up the munition stores, corrupting the network. And if all that failed, the longer the raider spent in the wave of highly charged code, the more the brain would be burnt out by an overload of both information and charged particles.

As successful as this adaptive code was at slipping into the brain of the raiders, boundaries and barriers were met in the brains. Namely the conciousness, no matter how animal like, of the raider in question. This meant that not all objectives could be met. Precious seconds slipped by as the charged particles crossed neural pathways, splitting the very core of the Raiders, confusing them and driving them towards insanity. The Raiders, looking to protect their core personality against this most unconventional of attacks, closed in on themselves, and that is all it took as they overlooked what were seen as minor sub-systems attached to their reactors, controlling coolant to their reactors. With the reactors starting to overheat, automatic systems cut in, shutting down the reactors and starting the download process to the waiting resurection ships at the edge of colonial space.

The wave of charged code sped outwards, away from Leonis and still connected to it by more charged code coming behind it. This was the largest wireless information network ever created in Colonial history, requiring almost all the power generated by the groundside reactors, and still it kept expanding towards the Cylon fleet, chasing after fleeing Raiders and charging towards the Basestars. Raiders winked out of existence, some ordered out of the combat arena, others towards suspected weak spots around the planet

2 stealth raptors out of the 20 strong force orbiting Leonis, after recording everything that was happening, jumped to Picon, whilst 20 well hidden ships maintained their overwatch, most ready to jump out to warn Picon of any unforseen developments.

* * *

**Picon**

**Battlestar Atlantia (Flagship)**

**1 hour 18 minutes after Cylon Incursion**

"Dradis Contacts...it's the stealth raptors...ID confirmed", the Dradis officer called out.

Going to the comm console, Admiral Nagala reached over the officer, patching the Raptors wireless transmissions into the entire CIC. "This is actual, what do we have?"

"Actual, Phantom. The entire Cylon fleet is at Leonis. They number 342 Basestars, all the new model. Our sensors were unable to give us accurate raider readings. But we estimates that there was 100000 raiders inbound on Leonis. The main Cylon fleet was staying behind those raiders. The basestars had spread out and dispersed possibly another 100000 raiders between them, we beleive they had more in reserve".

"You said had?" the Admiral said.

"We're sending you a video feed and data we gathered, sir", Nagala watched the videos at double speed whilst glancing at the data. Phantom continued, "when we jumped out the Raiders sent ahead were either drifting unpowered or fleeing the wave of...we think it's a code sir".

"This is it...they've stalled", Nagala muttered. Looking at his XO Nagala ordered with steel in his voice, "Have all ships prepare to jump in one minute. We're going to Leonis. It's our best chance to break the Cylon fleet".

The XO seeing that Nagala was right, set the crew to work. Nagala continued, "We'll come in 30 km in front of the picket ships. Jump Raptors to BSG16 and Galactica, we need them with us. They'll jump in from the rear of the Cylon fleet. If they get there quick enough we can pin down the Cylons".

* * *

**The Boneyards**

**BSG16**

**Battlestar Defiant**

**1 hour after Cylon Incursion**

Flashing into existence at the edge of the Boneyards came a contact that dwarved even a Mercury class battlestar. As soon as IDs were confirmed, this contact was guided into the middle of the ship graveyard towards the waiting fleet.

Coming into visual range of the Defiant, the titanic size and the strangeness of this contact became immediately apparent. This wasn't a ship, at least not a standard ship, no this was one of only 3 such stations of it's type ever made, a mobile shipyard. The other two stations had been located at Scorpia and Picon, Scorpia's having been scrapped in the last defense cuts and Picon's having been destroyed by the Cylons during the first few minutes of the attack.

Measuring in at 2.85 miles long, 1.3 miles high and 3.5 miles wide, the vast majority of the station was partly severed armoured gantries and thick armour plating surrounding two cavernous bays large enough to hold the largest of all Battlestars.

At the bow sat two immense openings where Battlestars entered rear first. Each bay had two protective doors covering them which joined on a horizontal axis and were pointed outwards. In an emergency situation, for example the doors having been warped by the intense heat and shockwaves of multiple nuclear impacts, then explosive bolts around the perimeter of the doors would detonate, shedding the doors themselves. Failing that the ship inside the bay could just plow into the doors which would bow outwards under such an impact from inside the bay, an impact from outside the bay wouldn't accomplish this. Between these two bays was a full battery of heavy antiship guns.

Towards the rear third (1.2 miles) of the massive station/ship sat the main habitible section. This contained the cargo bays where spare parts were kept, machine shops where new parts could be made (only possible with resources either scavenged or mined). The machine shops could produce anything from parts for a mk 1-7 Viper (including airframe and engines) to parts for a battlestar. Also located here were crew quarters, cargo bays for dried rations and supplies (3 years worth for 40000 people or three battlestar groups), the CIC, a full hospital that could care for upto 1000 crew (however there is only 20 doctors/surgeons aboard and 50 interns aboard during peacetime operations). Huge stores of Tylium were also kept back here as well as two reservoirs of water.

At the rear of the station/ship was the jumpdrives and engines. There were two jumpdrives and two sets of coils (one each), this was because due to the size of the station the designers, many of whom were veterans of the first war, decided that due to the mass of the station with just one jumpdrive it would take 30 minutes to spool up the jumpdrive. This they decided, for a military vessel, was far too long, but by having two running counter to one another, the station could continuously jump every 15 minutes.

On the rear of the station was 16 engine blocks of the same design as a Columbia 2 class battlestar. Covering the station were hundreds of point defense batteries, gun batteries, anti-ship batteries (including missile batteries), and 40 nuclear missile silos (100 nuclear missiles were also stored in specially designed bunkers on he station).

On the port and starboard side of the station were inbuilt flightpods smaller than on a Valkyrie class holding a squadron of vipers between them and a squadron of raptors each.

Their were hundreds of joints where the rest of the station that was unable to jump, had been blown off with explosive bolts. As it was the battlestation looked like a cross between a whale and an enlargened Columbia Class Battlestar.

Proudly emblazoned on the side of each flightpod, highlighted in spotlights and golden paint against the titanium grey of the hull was the seal of the colonies and the proud name Nemea.

A

* * *

s soon as the titanic Battlestation (BX) joined the fleet in the centre of the boneyards and orders were confirmed, tugs were deployed towards the decommissioned Battlestar Corsair and raptors filled with crew and knuckle draggers were sent to BSG16.

Once the tugs arrived at the Corsair and attached themselves to mooring points along the Battlestar, the Battlestation Nemea maneuvered in behind the Corsair, the Portside dock doors open. Steadily moving forward, it seemed that the mighty Battlestation swallowed the damaged, derelict Columbia 2 class battlestar whole. The whole process took 15 minutes.

Whilst this was going on, the newly recommissioned and partially rearmed Medstar Panacea jumped out of the system and a Raptor jumped in from fleet command at Virgon.

"Commander, we've just received orders via Raptor 207 out of Atlantia", the XO said as the Commander stepped into the CIC.

"Go ahead", the Commander ordered, fresh gauze taped to a newly stiched gash on his forehead.

Reading the orders the XO answered "We are to make all haste to Ragnar where Rear-Admiral Adama will take charge of BSG16. From there we are to jump to Leonis and attack the Cylon fleet from the rear while the rest of the fleet under command of Atlantia attacks from the front. It also seems that the Graystones are employing some form of Electronic Warfare ability that is interfering with the Cylon raiders. Admiral Nagala says that if we can pin the Cylon Fleet at Leonis then its our best chance at defeating the Cylons". There was hope in the XO's eyes and tone of voice as he read out the orders, crew members around the CIC that had been listening intently, all shared that same hope and all eyes turned to the Commander.

With the strength of an entire Battlestar Group behind his words Commander Hall spoke, "Input jump coordinates for Ragnar Anchorage and pass orders to recall all personel as soon as we exit jump. Nemea is to jump with us but will remain at Ragnar Anchorage under Condition 2. It's time we showed the Cylons why they shouldn't frak with us!" As he said this the Commander had a pit of doubt sinking into his stomach, inwardly he thought that this could be the making or breaking of the Colonies. But he would never let that show, not when his crews looked up to him.

* * *

**Hi sorry this chapter took so long, sprained my hand last week so haven't been able to type. But here it is. I decided to put in a full description of Nemeaand am using this chapter to place the pieces for the Battle of Leonis in the next chapter.**

**I hope you like the chapter and if you have any questions feel free to ask and reviews are appreciated.**


	8. Chapter 8 The Battle of Leonis Part 1

**The Battle of Leonis Part 1**

* * *

**Caprica**

A gunshot rings out, halting the onward push of a pressing crowd of civilians as they tried to force their way onto the lone Raptor.

"Step back, everyone stand back", Leiuenant Karl 'Helo' Agathon called out, his smoking gun pointing at the feet of a quickly retreating crowd of civilians. "We are not a search and rescue Raptor. This is a military vessel only".

At his back stood the fearful Leiutenant Sharon 'Boomer' Valerie, her gun also pointing at the crowd's feet.

"Please, what about the children, take the children", a pleading voice called out from the crowd amongst the shouts of anger plaguing it.

Looking at Boomer for confirmation, Helo nodded, "Okay, children only, children only".

The crowd was split between those who didn't have children being angered at their seats being stolen from them but too scared to say that out loud, and those who did, trying to put a brave face on themselves for their kin. Parents had tears freely falling down their faces as they hugged their children to themselves one last time, telling them that they would be okay and that they (parents) would come for them when it was safe. Some handed over the last of their possessions to their children before pushing them foreward through the press of civilians.

Boomer stepped forward, guiding them to the Raptor and letting a boy of 13 through. Seeing a young, blonde mother, her face scratched and her clothes ripped, a heavy green duffel bag bearing the Colonial seal over her shoulders, crying her eyes out as she cradled her newborn baby, Boomer stepped towards her.

Looking down on the red faced infant girl, Boomer asked, "How old is she?"

Tears falling onto the baby's forehead, the mother replied, "Two days...she's 6 weeks premature...here...t..take her...her father is in the fleet...he serves on the..."

Shaking her head, Boomer replied, "I can't...she's too young...Gods, get onboard". A look of hope and gratitude spread over the young mother's face as she heard this, but the crowd behind her, especially the parents started to hurl abuse.

Firing his gun one more time, Helo shouted "Enough, that child was way too young to be seperated from her mother and still survive".

The gunshot seemed to do it as the crowd quietened down to a reasonable level. However some still shouted that there was still room left. Counting those that had already got on board the Raptor, Helo called out, "We can take three more, and that is it, anymore and we don't take off".

"And who decides? You?"

"A lottery. We put it to a lottery", Karl called back.

Stood at the back of the crowd, hating his damned self preservation instinct, Doctor Gaius Baltar felt deep empathy and hope for the young mother. But that didn't stop the fact that he was still stuck in a nuclear wasteland.

* * *

**Leonis**

Dozens of singularities flashed into existence four kilometres ahead of Leonis' picket ships depositing the remnants of the Colonial fleet under command of Fleet Admiral Nagala, so as not to risk being shot at by their own people. In total there was 27 Battlestars and 82 support ships ranging from Ecostars (electronic counter/offensive ships) and gunstars to destroyers and heavy cruisers.

They all jumped in a near perfect formation 10 ships across, five high and two deep, with the ships behind being able to fire between the gaps. Twenty of the 27 battlestars stood in the front ranks, with those in the rear carrying some amount of heavy damage. Vipers and Assault Raptors took off splitting into three formations, the largest taking up position in a formation matching the fleet's formation, the second largest took up position at the rear of the fleet, and the third moved to between and the sides of the colonial fleet.

"Admiral, I have the Graystones on the line".

Activating his headset, Nagala spoke "Actual".

"Admiral, thankyou for coming. Now I need you to listen carefully. You need to at least double the guard in all sensitive areas of your ships. If what we have seen of the Cylons technology holds true, then the Cylons will have developed organic infiltration models that look just like humans. This will explain how the Cylons were able to place backdoors into our systems and take out the defensive mainfraims..."

Turning his attention to his XO, Nagala formulated his orders, "Paul, have the guard tripled in all sensitive areas of the fleet vital to our survival. There are possible Cylon sympathisers and terrorists in the fleet. Orders are to shoot to kill anyone who approaches these positions without prior notification from the CIC".

Reacting immediately, the XO handed out the , Daniel Graystone said, "I'm doing as much as I can to help you. We're currently spreading a virus throughout local space. It currently covers 1.3 light minutes, but is weaker at its edges. If you are to stand the best chance possible then you need to stay within 30 lightseconds of Leonis. However you may experience some interference from he Virus with your systems, it should only be minor interference at most, so if you do then notify me immediately. Also you may get headaches unless you increase the power of your Truman cages (colonial version of a Faraday cage built into secondary hull). What I need you to do is to make sure that the Cylons don't hit any of the arrays or power stations on Leonis, if they do hit them, then there will be holes in the virus' wavefront. I also suggest that you keep me on a background comm, I may have future updates to give".

Listening to all this and taking down notes, Nagala asked "Can you find any weakspots in the Cylons?"

"Just one major weakspot that you won't know about. I can't risk it over the wireless, but watch out for something strange if I do manage to exploit it. Good luck Admiral".

Turning back to the dradis monitors, Nagala saw that his fleet was still a minute away from the Cylon fleet, "Jamie, open up a channel, all frequencies", he said to the current wireless operator.

His XO turned to him raising an eyebrow, to which Nagala replied with bravado in his voice, "Might as well give them a chance".

"Channel is up sir", Ensign Jamie Drake called out.

Taking in a deep breath and putting the power of an entire fleet into his words, Fleet Admiral Nagala spoke. "You have failed. You have failed to wipe out the Colonial Fleet. You have failed to wipe out all our Colonies. You have failed to wipe out humanity. All you have done is woken a sleeping lion. This war ends here, today. You have a choice. You can agree to a ceasefire and an ultimate peace between us where we go our seperate ways and never meet again. Or we can fight it out. Trust me when I say, if we fight it out, it will be to the death of both our species. You couldn't beat us in the first war, and I'll be damned if you beat us now. So say we all!"

Echoing across the entire fleet, in every ship from Viper to Battlestar as wireless comms were activated came the words of almost every crewmember, rising like a tidal wave, buoying the spirits of all involved and driving a deep terror towards the Cylon race, "So say we all! So say we all! So say we all!"

And then the battle was upon them.

Moving as one towards the Cylon Armada, Admiral Nagala had the First Viper and Raptor detachment sent on ahead of the fleet to take on the Cylon Raiders. At the same time the much smaller Picket fleet was sent to flank the rapidly maneuvering Cylon Armada on its left flank.

Riding slightly ahead of the vipers, the raptors in the First Detachment fired out half of their missiles towards the raprors that had both survived the Graystones virus to a certain degree and had been ordered to engage the oncoming Colonial fleet. These scattered ranks of Raiders stood no chance and they knew it, but that didn't stop their insane rush towards the waiting vipers. More than two thirds (just over 800) Raiders were cripled or destroyed by the missiles impacting against their hulls. The Raptors seeing that their attack had not worked as well as they had planned, dropped back behind the Vipers and allowed the Viper Jocks to do what they do best. Knowing that they had limited fuel, and under fresh orders direct from Admiral Nagala, these Vipers stayed on a steady course towards the remaining Raiders.

"...Sections two, six, eight and twelve present outward facing broadsides. You're to allow momentum to carry them forward, but have engines ready for full thrust", Admiral Nagala ordered his leading Section Commanders over the wireless as he maneuvered digital representations of the fleet on the plot table.

A Battlestar Class ship is unable to use maneuvering methods like the gas propelled thrusters on a Viper or Raptor due to it's size, so instead it has the main fusion engines at the rear, a smaller amount at the bow which are usually running cold and a combination of small fusion thrusters and large scale gas propelled thrusters running along it's entire length (minus the dorsal section). By using a combination of these, the different ships in each section were able to precisely maneuver their broadsides towards the Cylon fleet within a maximum of 12 seconds for the slowest ships.

The Vipers on couse for the Cylon Raiders at only 1.4 km from engagement range, suddenly split into two along the horizontal axis, rapidly accelerating from one another. At the same time the seperate section sections in the Colonial fleet that had maneuvered so their broadsides were facing the oncoming raiders, opened fire with their point defences firing out an impressive wall of shrapnel into the faces of these Raiders.

Despite being a scattered formation, the effect of this barrage on the Raiders was still highly effective, taking down more than a hundred within just a couple of seconds, those that survived any longer than this quickly learnt to get out of the line of fire, breaking as they were for the periphery of the barrage and running straight into the oncoming Vipers which tore them to shreds with only a handful of casualties as they passed through each other.

Suddenly, near the centre of the Colonial formation, multiple internal explosions tore through the hull and armour of the Battlestar Hephaistion casting hundreds of bodies adrift. Flames licked their way out of the holes torn through the hull until they choked in space. Then the main Fusion engines stuttered and flared before dieing altogether. Seconds passed.

Space around the Goliath Class Battlestar lit up brighter than a dozen stars and a shockwave of energy was spat out as the breached main reactors expelled their contained energies. Debris shot towards the nearby Colonial ships causing minor damage to a nearby light cruiser and a missilestar. The wave of deadly energy, with nothing feeding it, died of starvation leaving behind a shocked and bewildered fleet.

"What the frak happened?" Atlantia's XO all but screamed at the tactical officer who looked bewildered, going as she was over recent data of the Hephaistion.

Nagala, dropping his head and holding himself up on the plot table, felt the true weight of Daniel Graystone's warning about Cylon Infiltrators, but he knew that he couldn't do more than triple the guard on the sensitive areas. Turning his head to the Dradis monitors that showed the Cylon fleet starting to try to envelop his fleet by sending the rearmost ships to the flanks, Nagala worked his way through the hundreds of different tactics devised in numerous battles and hundreds of ours of war college simulations. The facts stood for themselves, the Colonial ships in terms of firepower were outmatched at 8 to 1, the Cylons due to having more ships had much more maneuverability and would use that to control the battle, the Cylons were still out of weapons range. In fact it seemed the only advantage the Colonials possessed was that the Graystones virus was starting to give them the advantage in fighter support.

"Wait..." Nagala muttered, a thought spiking in his mind as he formulated a plan, "Paul, have all ships open fire on the Cylon fleet right now. All batteries, CD (contact detonation) salvo fire!"

Passing on the orders, Colonel Paul Danvers replied, "We're still out of range sir".

"Fire all batteries right now. We're fully stocked in ammo, we can afford to expend as much as possible if only 5 percent hit".

From the bows and backs of every Colonial ship guns blossomed and heavy anti-ship shells were fired out in controlled patterns. These shells crossed the vast distance between the fleets at a phenomenal rate, only slowing down slightly as the effects of Leonis' stronger than average gravity (1.4g) took effect, but even this wasn't enough. Passing the maximum engagement range, the shells didn't detonate, instead the miracle that was celestial mechanics, and the fact that each shell had been programmed to detonate on contact instead of detonating at range, meant that each shell continued onward towards the Cylon fleet.

In the time that it had taken to travel the vast distances involved, the Cylon Basestars had started to disperse as much as they could in order to avoid the incoming shells. Raiders were ordered forward and into the line of fire. Dozens of raiders burst into flame, guts and shrapnel as they were crushed by the shells that detonated as soon as they hit. But there was no way to stop the thousands of shots worth of explosive ordinanace. Rushing past the assembling ranks of Raiders, the vast majority of shots either met their end against the raiders or continued onwards into eternal space until a strong enough field of gravity took effect. And then it happened, the first shots hit the sides of a number of Basestars.

A loud cheer ran through Atlantia's CIC, quickly dieing down as the Basestars continued their maneuvers with the newer damage they were carrying. Thinking on his feet, Nagala quickly did some calculations on the damage the Basestars had taken against the amount of shots fired, "Fleet, slow to one third and focus fire towards the edges of the Cylon formation".

By slowing to one third, Nagala was extending the amount of time he could stay out of the expected maximum range of the Basestars missiles, based upon intel garnered from past engagements, thereby giving the Colonial fleet a chance to soften up the Cylon Basestars.

Instead of firing towards the centre where the Basestars were now maneuvering away from, by shifting fire to the edges Nagala was hoping to cluster the Cylon fleet back into the centre or risk them being torn to shreds. However there was a downside as the Basestars, seeing this change of tactic from afar, either sped up and forced their way further past the new shells or retreated back towards the centre. Over a hundred Basestars made it safely through before the salvoed shells started to block their paths. These Basestars, whilst giving the Colonial fleet a wide berth, accelerated towards their flanks.

"Tighten the net", Nagala ordered as he saw the readjusted countdown to the expected missile range, creep down to 8 seconds.

Snapping his head back as he heard the sounds of gunfire rour down the hall to the CIC, Nagala saw a marine sergeant drop his rifle as his hands reached for his own throat, blood was gushing out from his corotted artery, spraying the entire hallway and the glass doors of the CIC in blood. Just as the walking dead soldier collapsed to his knees, other Marines around him fired down the hallway at the attacker, smoke drifting from their barrels being torn as more bullets broke free to tear down the hallway.

A marine Corporal suddenly shouted, "GRENADE!" as a small ball came rolling down the corridoor, colliding with the glass doors to the CIC before bouncing to the ground and rolling backwards, stopping at the kneeling body of the dieing Marine Sergeant. Whether by his own action, his death or the will of the Gods, the Marine collapsed forward, his armour plated body falling onto the grenade just as a bright flash followed by a ball of fflame and shrapnel occured as it detonated, tearing the Marine limb from limb and throwing his lifeless and mangled remains upwards into the ceiling and outwards onto his fellow Marines and the walls.

The shockwave shattered the bulletproof glass doors, showering the CIC and it's residents in splintered glass fragments. Continuing down the hall the shockwave threw three blood and guts covered marines from their feet. The other 6 Marines somehow found the strength to carry on firing until the Master Sergeant called out, "All Clear! Hold your fire! Simms, Valker, check the target".

The tactical officer called back Nagala's attention as he called out, "Basestars have opened fire, reading...over 1000 missiles inbound on fleet...aproximately 50 are nuclear".

Turning back to the dradis monitors, splinters of glass embeded in his bleeding cheeks, Nagala was forced back into command as he saw the missiles inbound on his ships. "All ships, bring point defences to bear on the Cylon missiles, Battlestars Panther, Kobe, Ranger and Sterling, have squadrons focus on the nuclear missiles".

The squadrons from the four Battlestars broke away from the rest of the Vipers to accelerate over where the missiles would pass, aided by the Raptors of those same four Battlestars. "Paul, get me an image of the person that just tried to attack the CIC and have it transmitted to the whole fleet..."

Passing the order onto a Private, the XO moved to Nagala's side daring to ask, "What's going on? If he's a sympathiser then..."

Gritting his teeth and turning to his XO, Nagala replied, "There are no sympathisers. He's a fracking Cylon. A skinjob".

As the point defences opened up on the oncoming missiles, Paul swore, "Frak! Then there could be toasters on every ship and we wouldn't know".

Clouds of shrapnel and flame formed a barrier between the fleet and the 1000+ missiles, shredding many. "I'm hoping they're mass produced. It will make it easier to find them".

Hundreds of missiles broke through the wall of flak, some being taken down by approaching shots, and others slipping through. The squadrons of the four selected battlestars following the tracks of the missiles from above the flak field and shooting 'down' through it.

A young private in green fatigues came running back, "Colonel, Admiral the assailant was Corporal Conoy, sirs. His body is on camera 8-2 alpha 6."

Turning to his XO, Nagala ordered, "transmit his service photograph to the fleet. If they have someone like him, then they're either to be detained or shot on sight if it's not possible"

The CIC shook as the first missiles hit the bow of the Battlestar, bursting into small balls of flame as they did and centering their concussive force into the hull, a sight echoed throughout the fleet. The Battlestar Firebrand wasn't so lucky as a ball of bright white light burst forth from a nuclear missile striking her, but when the light withdrew, she still stood.

A thought came to Nagala's mind and so he ordered, "All commanders are to arm their nuclear missiles. However hold fire until either I give the order or your ships become too damaged. If your ships are too damaged to continue the fight, then you are to input a ramming course, set all weapons to auto fire and evacuate your ships". Auto fire in this case being preprogrammed targets.

"Sir, we're getting reports of multiple internal explosions and shootings throughout the fleet..."

"I want images of those involved transmitted to all ships. Shoot to kill".

"Admiral, Flanking Basestars are launching a new type of ship..."

Looking at the Dradis feed and the incoming image from the 3D imaging software of the hundreds of box shaped ships (on a 2D screen), Nagala said, "New classification, Heavy Raider. Expect them to carry Centurions. Redeploy 50% of rear and guard Viper and Raptor formations to intercept".

"Two incoming nukes, expected time to impact 5 seconds", the tactical officer called out.

"All hands brace for impact", the XO called into the internal communications system.

"We've lost the LC Steadfast".

Grasping tight hold of the plot table, Nagala felt his feet leave the ground as the first nuclear missile expelled it's contained energy against the hull of the Atlantia. The entire ship lurched as if caught in an Olympian's grip, consoles exploded in a shower of sparks stunning and sometimes killing their occupants with due to an overload of energy coursing through them. Hull mounts cracked, damaging the structural integrity and forcing a couple of oxygen canisters to explode as they were torn from the walls.

Before the tremors were over, the other missile hit the outer armour of the port flight pod, bending and flexing the armour to it's will and sending deep vibrations throughout the entire Battlestar. Safety cutoffs kicked in, shutting down an engine that threatened to blow when it's coolant pumps were damaged. And in the CIC a bank of hard drives exploded as a sudden overload ripped through their circuits, flames and rhick black smoke belching furiously from the hard black plastic. Then as fast as the shaking started, it stopped as the vibrations ran their course.

Miraculously though, as Nagala pulled himself to his feet, amid the chaos and balanced precariously on the edge of the plot table was his antique teacup, neither chipped nor fractured. Moving it back to the indentation meant for larger cups, Nagala looked about the CIC seeing everyone pulling themselves back to their jobs, a small group of three DC personel struggling with fire extinguishers to put out the toxic fire that had overgrown the bank of hard drives, the tactical officers and wireless operators trying to regain contact with the fleet and see what was happening in the space surrounding the ship.

"

The dradis monitors were just a shower of static as they struggled to recover from the first bout of radiation.

"Sir..." the secondary communications officer called out, the primary being laid out unconcious, "...message via the lasers from Furious, Vice Admiral Bacon has taken temporary command until full wireless is restored. He reports that we have five heavy en route to our location".

Trying to clear his head, Nagala replied "Realign laser and acknowledge receipt of message. Order Bacon to send a wing of Vipers on strafing runs throughout whichever flightpod they land in".

Typing in the message and then transmitting it, the young comm officer looked up at Nagala saying, "It's been received sir..." flicking her blonde hair out of her eyes, she continued, "...the Destroyer Charger has just been lost. Cause is unknown".

Coming up next to Nagala, Colonel Paul Simmons said, "I've moved everyone who can handle a gun to the flightpod airlocks, we've also lost 18 of our point defenses and 5 Cannons in that last attack. FTL is down, engineering reports it should be up in about ten minutes, maybe sooner..."

"Tell me when ten minutes have passed"

Snorting, the XO continued "...Yeah I'll do that. We've also totally lost Engine C, reports are that the engine is pretty much fine, but the coolant is fracked, it's an hours work at least. Other than that we've got damage across the entire ship, and gods knows how many dead and wounded, the infirmary is turning away wounded".

"Dradis is back", the tactical officer called out.

"So is shortrange wireless. Longrange will be up in 20 seconds".

Looking at the recently acquired dradis data, Admiral Nagala saw that only four Heavy Raiders were en route to both the dorsal port and starboard decks of Atlantia at 7 seconds range at current speed. Already the point defences surrounding the entrances to both flightpods had opened up on these intruders, but whatever armour they had seemed to stand up well against the ammunition. More heavy Raiders were both enroute to thirty ships throughout the fleet and had already landed on two Battlestars. A flight of Vipers had broken into two and had already taken up position inside the Atlantia's flightpods, the same type of action was taking place throughout the fleet, but there was only so many Vipers.

The flanking Cylon Basestars had passed over the fleet and were taking up position at the rear just out of weapons range, pressing the Colonial Fleet forward towards a now orderly spread out concave formation of Basestars, many of which were carrying some kind of damage from the still constant long range barrage. This formation had started pressing forward, trying to get into missile range. There was no way the Colonial Fleet in it's current position could withstand the Cylons

And then came the breakthrough.

* * *

**Cylon Basestar Alpha-216**

**Hybrid's Chamber (Basestar MCP)**

Deep within every modern Basestar sat a special room. From this room, every part of the basestar was controlled. Without this room, or more specifically without it's permanent occupant, the Basestar would fail to run anywhere near 100%. The room itself had a crisp, clean look to it, bright lights spotted the room, a red band ran side to side along one wall, like the heartbeat of the ship. In one corner stood a figure of polished steel and alloy, a centurion. And at the center of the room lay a depression that flooded the room with a bright white light. At the centre of this pool lay the true heart of the ship, the Hybrid.

"Overload of capacitor 36 Beta in deck 14 section 81...redirecting flow to capacitor 78 Theta on deck 12 section 81, End of line...Alone they came, five in total, their minds lost in the haze, following in the footsteps of their Ancestors, they watch, waiting until the time is right, things do not have to be the same. Hidden in battle they watch, saviours one and all, all this has happened before, all this will happen again, end of line".

Suddenly the Hybrid sprang forward, cables grown into her back following her and trailing an oxygen filled white goo. Screaming out loud, the Hybrid shouted, "Handshake accepted, handing over control, end of line". At the same time the Hybrid dropped back into her bath, all the lights except in her bath went dark, loud bangs were heard as the blastdoors throughout the basestar slammed shut, and a power conduit built into the wall of the Hybrid's chamber exploded, an electrical discharge struck the centurion watching over the hybrid, killing it's body.

In the command centre, all humanoid cylon eyes were turned to each other in question to what was happening before all the air was sucked from the room.

Across the main Cylon fleet the same was happening to 3 more Basestars. Hundreds and then thousands of missiles burst forth from these four Basestars, but instead of heading for the Colonial fleet, they instead turned towards the Cylon fleet, half a dozen Basestars being struck before they realized what was happening, two of which were destroyed in nuclear fire. And then these four Basestars dived through the Cylon fleet, firing out as many missiles as they could, throwing disarray into the Cylon ranks which returned fire, not beleiving what was happening.

Upon seeing the Cylon formation being broken from within, Admiral Nagala knew he had to act straight away, "All ships full speed. We're going in".

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**Well thats the first part of the battle, will update soon where we will see the full effects of Nagala's decision and BSG16 enter the battle. Sorry it took so long, had to do a total rewrite. Reviews appreciated.**


	9. Chapter 9 The Battle For Leonis Part 2

**Battle for Leonis Part 2 of 3**

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Accelerating forward to full thrust from their previous slow reverse, the remnants of the Colonial fleet rapidly closed on the now disorganised Cylon Armada. All the while, the Colonial controlled Basestars wreaked havoc and destruction on the Armada from within, throwing every single missile they could towards the Cylon ships.

From aboard the soon to be besieged Battlestar Atlantia, riding at the head of the rapidly manoeuvring Colonial fleet, Fleet Admiral Nagala called out orders to his Group Commanders (some being rear admiral rank, others Class 1 Commanders), "Sections two, six, eight and twelve you are to accelerate away from the fleet on your current bow-ward bearing. Two and eight you are then to adjust to 160 carom 210 and accelerate to full speed. Six and twelve you are to adjust heading to 310 carom 205 accelerating to full speed. Once you are both clear of the Cylon fleet, you are to readjust as you see fit and follow the perimeter of the Armada whilst laying down full broadsides. Use this time wisely". Upon receipt of the orders, these ships that had been facing outwards to the flanks of the fleet, powered their engines to full power, and headed off on their respective courses.

At the same time, Nagala continued issuing orders, "All other ships are to adjust formation at full speed to a Theta-8 Spear formation, split down into sections. Free fire as you adjust, and centre yourself on Atlantia. We'll be heading right into the centre. I need section commanders to coordinate targets and each section is to focus their fire. Expect fresh orders."

Accelerating forward Atlantia and her section stood at the head of a growing square based spear as the other sections that had been in a wall shaped formation moved forward starting from the central ships to the outermost (think a Mexican wave going in two or more directions at once). Due to the sudden change in tactics, the flanking Cylon Basestars were caught almost totally unaware as the Colonial Ships broke away from them and towards the far larger broken formation of Basestars. Bullets and high impact ordinance rounds tore towards these vulnerable ships covering the distance in mere seconds and leaving only plumes of smoke in their wake.

To further aid them in this battle, Nagala had the Viper wings focus ahead of the fleet, tending to have them fly just above and below the plains of fire. Breaking away at full thrust, the flank facing sections maneuverer on their new headings further confusing the Cylon fleets. The flanking Cylon ships hung back, closing their ranks even more so as to prepare for a possible assault from these Colonial ships, an assault that was never to come.

The 3 dimensional spear shaped formation of the Colonial fleet, pierced the ranks of the main Cylon fleet unleashing a hailstorm of rounds and missiles into the Cylon ships. Barriers of flak rounds tore at any Cylon Raider or missile that came too close. But it was too late for that; already the heavy raiders that had landed on the various Battlestars were preparing to disembark their tightly packed Centurions. Vipers took up attacking positions in the flightpods, laying constant fire towards the heavily armoured Heavy Raiders but without much success and so, running low on ammunition they waited for the Centurions to disembark. They didn't have to wait long.

Doors on two of the heavy raiders exploded open in a cloud of gas, the metal doors smashing into the hull plating of the Battlestar Atlantia and expelling a dozen heavily armoured Centurions which closely followed the now battered door. Firing as soon as the Cylons started this manoeuvre, hundreds of rounds were expended from the waiting Vipers at these vulnerable Cylons, dozens of shots smashing through the heads and bodies of them. Missiles tore away from these two heavy raiders, some engulfing the defending Vipers in balls of flame and debris, only a handful of pilots managed to avoid getting hit, using their manoeuvring thrusters at full power to pull them out of the line of fire. One unfortunate pilot using far too much thrust and crashing his Viper into the roof of the flightpod, the damage firing off the ejection seat and slamming the pilot head first into the harsh metal hull. The tylium stores exploding from the after effects sent chunks of the Viper spinning in a deadly kinetic cloud, shrapnel pinging off the hulls of the surviving Vipers.

As the surviving Viper pilots struggled to regain control, six Centurions each stepped out of the two heavy raiders, missile launchers resting on their right shoulders, magazines atop the missile launchers fed another missile into the tubes, and without more than half a second to aim at the surviving Vipers, they fired. Bursting forth on plumes of flame and smoke, these new missiles locked onto the heat signatures of the Vipers, which accelerated forward into attack runs on these Centurions or attempted to make it out of the flightpod if they could. But with so many missiles going against so few Vipers, and the Vipers not having enough room to manoeuvre, the end was inevitable as the missiles impacted, destroying each Viper.

With this threat to their goal destroyed, the other four Heavy Raiders opened their doors. 18 sweeping red beams were seen inside the pitch black holds each of the Heavy Raiders, and if sound could carry in space, a hum would be heard as the beams swept back and forth and then the heavy clumps of the Centurions boots banging into the deck as they strode forward and onto their conquest of the Battlestar Atlantia.

"Admiral, the Cylons have reached airlocks Alphas 3 and 7, Betas 2 and 8 and Deltas 9 and 13. Marines are holding at defensive points surrounding those airlocks and at choke points throughout their probable path. We've also got our first images of these new Centurions", Sergeant Charles, the Marines commander spoke whilst bringing up various close-up images of this new class of Centurions.

Taking what time he could to look at the gleaming chrome and smooth bodies of these Centurions that easily dwarfed the average Colonial, Admiral Nagala noted the razor sharp claws that they had for fingers and how these were able to be folded back in order to bring in built guns to bear, then the roaming red eye that still intimidated humans after all these years. It was obvious to him that they would be in for a tough fight. Shaking on his feet as a missile impacted the hull, Nagala spoke, "Charles, you are to co-ordinate all our marines, do whatever you feel you have to in order to halt the Centurions advance and relay any Intel you may gather to the other ships in the fleet".

Throughout the fleet, more Centurions were launching similar assaults on their respective targets, although in some cases the Cylons weren't risking being shot out in the open by waiting Vipers, but were instead cutting their way into the thick landing decks of the Battlestars as was the case on the Battlestar Valkyrie. By cutting through the deck plating in certain places, the Centurions could gain access to corridors, service shops, cargo bays, and air ducts. The hull was far too thick for the Cylons to cut their way into the main hanger deck in order to vent its atmosphere.

Deeply immersed within the artificial realm of V world, Daniel and Zoe Graystone drove their captured Basestars deep into the heart of the Cylon Armada wreaking havoc in their wake, Thousands of missiles were fired by both sides, crossing an almost none existent void between the ships since the Graystones Basestars were trying to cut down on the amount of Basestars that could target them by travelling so close to certain Basestars. As the Spear shaped formation of the Colonial fleet intersected and drove itself into the Cylon ranks, using the Cylons confusion and lack of coordination to their advantage, the first major kills in this struggle became known as tens of thousands of rounds and missiles impacted against the Cylon Ships, smashing their way into hanger bays and gutting some from the inside. Vipers were then unleashed on the Cylons, speeding forth and with plenty of Raptor ECM cover, these tiny ships, many armed with Anti-Ship missiles, tore into the weakened but still not defeated Raiders aiming to get past them, and trying to intercept the Basestars. Blood and Chrome exploded from those Raiders that fell as they collided with the colonials, mixing in with the deadly balls of shrapnel and shredded bodies that resulted from Vipers exploding.

Arrowing away from the main Colonial formation and each other, the two flanking Colonial formations adjusted their course, turning them towards the borders of the Cylon Fleet. Guns spat out hundreds of deadly rounds that if they didn't hit the Cylon ships, then could hit the Colonial ships behind them. It was a deadly game.

Struggling to control four Basestars at once (two each for Zoe and Daniel), two were destroyed by the amount of damage they had taken catching up with them whilst another one controlled by Daniel was intercepted by a squadron of 14 Heavy Raiders that seemed as if they came out of nowhere as they rolled from the other side of a Basestar that Daniel was using for cover. Unleashing all their missiles as they went, this squadron of Heavy Raiders wiped the Basestar from the map, however as much of the debris continued towards the Basestar that Daniel was both using for cover and attacking. In a bright flash before any debris could impact it, the Basestar jumped away from the Battlefield, as did 49 more Basestars throughout the Battlefield.

Standing in the middle of Atlantia's CIC, Admiral Nagala shouted to any officer that might know, "What just happened? Where did those Basestars go?" He didn't really expect an answer, but the Cylons intent became clear as the Cylon Basestars now had room to manoeuvre, and manoeuvre they did.

"Multiple Cylon Basestars on intercept courses. CBDR", (Constant bearing decreasing range) the tactical officer called out.

"Those Bastards mean to ram us", the XO said with concern in his voice.

Acting the instant he heard that the Cylons were coming to Ram them, Nagala ordered, "Box formation, overlapping fields of fire at full speed. Have all ships target the closest Basestars. All commanders have orders to fire Nuclear ordnance at will".

In a feat of manoeuvring never seen before, the formation of Colonial Ships collapsed from a sharp 3 dimensional arrow into a cube as the ships at the front of the formation cut their speed using their reverse thrusters whilst those at the rear carried on forward, More Colonial Ships that were in the centre used all the thrusters they could in order to pull to the sides of the decelerating Colonial warships, in one case only a few meters separated a Battlestar and light Cruiser from trading paint. Taking just 12 seconds to complete a manoeuvre that should have taken close to a minute, and still having gaps in the formation that allowed the central ships to fire through at the Cylon Basestars, every Colonial Warship opened fire on the incoming Basestars.

Then came hell or should I say Hades, as appearing in a series of Bright flashes at the rear of the Cylon fleet, came Battlestar Group Sixteen led by the Battlestar Galatica.

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**Having to fine tune last chapter but it will be up tomorrow.**


	10. Chapter 10 The Battle For Leonis Part 3

**This chapter mainly focuses on Nagala's fleet and not so much on Adama's but in the next chapter I plan on looking back on Adama's and BSG16's role (will only cover half the chapter at most, and is kind of necessary that way). Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

**Battle for Leonis Part 3**

**Fallen Stars**

* * *

**Battlestar Atlantia**

"Fall back! Everyone, fall back!" Staff Sergeant Lucas Monroe called out over the clashing sounds of automatic weapons fire. The entire Corridor was filled with a thick acrid smoke mixing with the intoxicating smell of gunpowder, these two combined filtered the white lights that ran the length of the corridor. Bullets tore down the corridor, impacting walls and marines alike, tearing flesh from bone or just continuing their course into bodged together barriers of crates and deck plating. Marines upon hearing the order, did their best to get to safety and most of all to survive the journey, many dragging their injured comrades, some of whom were still firing down the corridor. However, few marines would make the journey alive, caught up as they were trading shots with an unseen but far deadlier enemy.

Then out of the smoke, an unmistakeable strobing red beam was seen followed by another and another until more than ten were filtering through the smoke. This was a sight Monroe had to pull himself away from as marines ran past him, firing behind their backs as they went. Laying down as much covering fire as he could on his MGAT (Machine Gun Anti Troop) or Toaster Killer as it was known to the marines, Monroe saw as most of his shots slammed into the torsos of the tightly packed Centurions, throwing two to the ground with it's heavy stopping power and snapping the head off another Centurion before they refocused and turned their forearm Cannons onto his position. Ducking down behind the pieced together barricade just before the Cylons fired Monroe just avoided losing his head, and was instead made to watch as the thinnest part of the barrier which was made from deck plating scavenged from a nearby dormitory, dented and split under the heavy fire. Knowing that no more marines would be coming down the Corridor, Monroe tore two grenades from his bandolier and pulling the pins, tossed them over the barrier and down the corridor, before he too ran ducked down through the nearest bulkhead and round the corner after his men. The Centurions with their increased awareness, both visual and aural, tracked the grenades as they hit the deck, skipping over it towards them, reacting instantly a Centurion reached down, wrapping it's claws around the neck of a dead Centurion and with all it's strength threw the Centurion onto the two grenades. As they both exploded, the hardened shell of the Centurion was blasted into the ceiling, punching clean threw it, the arms and legs were torn clean off as the weaker joints fractured and melted. The explosions, dimmed as they were by the Centurions carcass, still reached the live Centurions but were unable to significantly damage them, however a large hole was melted clean through the deck revealing the guts of the ship and the Corridor underneath. Making a new decision based on the new environmental changes, the Cylons split into two groups, one group dropping down into the corridor below them and the other continuing over the hole, deck plating flexing under their heels and the melted corpse of a marine being crushed by a Centurions boot. The Centurions were on the warpath.

* * *

**BSG 16 led by Rear Admiral Adama/BS Galactica**

**Battlestar Hades**

Roaring down the launch tube past the red emergency lights lining it and into the cold embrace of space in his recently acquired MK-II Viper, Captain David 'Phoenix' Cain sped away from the newly arrived Battlestar Hades, joining up with the hundreds of Viper Pilots launching from the Battlestars of BSG16 (for all intents and purposes, even though Galactica is BSG75 count her as part of BSG16 for this battle). Ahead of them lay the spread and disordered Basestars of the main Cylon fleet, few Raiders were seen flying, instead the Cylons were relying on Heavy Raiders which, while slower and less agile than the normal Raider, they were instead more heavily armed and armoured, and more importantly were immune to the Graystones Virus due to them being flown directly by Cylon Infiltrators.

As the Vipers from every Battlestar in BSG16 were joining up into two formations, the smaller being leashed to the group, the warships of BSG16 performed a broadside action and spat out thousands of rounds towards the nearest Cylon vessels. The point defences instantly followed, covering the most likely missile paths in a thick blanket of flak. To Cain it seemed almost beautiful, it amazed him that something as visually stunning as this could be so deadly. Taking a breath and drawing himself back into the moment, Phoenix rechecked his dradis, noting the paths and locations of all the Vipers within three miles, seeing how the vast rectangular formation was taking shape by bowing outwards from the centre towards the Cylon fleet.

Raptors, both those armed with missiles and those set for SAR missions, took up position behind the Vipers.

Taking his position within the formation and activating his wireless, "Phoenix to Mohican squadron, Green Wing, I am in position and taking command, over". A chorus of "Rogers" and "Yes, sirs" answered him. Hundreds of Heavy Raiders came in at full speed towards the onrushing Vipers, loosing their missiles at the Colonial ships at maximum range. Rookie pilots and those that were gripped in the icy cold claws of fear, returned fire almost as soon as the missiles reached the very edge of their range. Knowing they had limited fuel and ammunition since it was a dance with death to rearm during combat, Phoenix jammed his thumb on the wireless button, "All Vipers, Phoenix. Hold fire until 500 metres, I repeat, hold fire until 500 metres. You are wasting ammunition". Those under his command that had been firing reacted instantly whilst the not under his command had to be ordered to hold fire by their commanding officers.

It was unnerving to every Pilot having to wait for the missiles and Heavy Raiders to enter weapons range, it almost seemed like time was standing still. Thankfully the Assault Raptors didn't have to wait so long as they fired half of their missiles at the assembling Heavy Raiders. As these missiles crossed the void separating the two sides, a void still measured in kilometres, then sped past the Cylons missiles, something wondrous happened. From hundreds of anti-ship rounds impacting all along their lengths, first one and then two more Basestars exploded with the light of a thousand suns, as debris started to spill outwards another Basestar fractured, splitting in two along its horizontal axis and then cartwheeled through space as secondary explosions tore the ship apart. This whole spectacle would have blinded the Viper Pilots were it not for their visors.

Seeing the range to the missiles tick down to 500 metres, pilots started to fire their guns along the ecliptic plane and along the paths of individual missiles safe in the knowledge that they had covering fire from above and below from BSG16. Firing his own guns in short, sharp bursts whilst zooming in on the two missiles he was tracking it didn't take long before Phoenix destroyed one, however the other missile, as if it had a mind of its own, shifted it's focus at 150 metres to the Viper on Cain's right. "Aggie missile incoming, port bow"

"I see it", Lieutenant Mary 'Aggie' Walsh (Aggie for Agile) responded.

Then before she could finish another voice came through the wireless, "Phoenix, missile to your upper bow ward port". Whilst shifting his Viper with a sharp burst from his manoeuvring jets and bringing his guns to align on this missile, Phoenix spoke into the wireless, "All Vipers, Phoenix. Check your bow ward port and starboard for missiles". Firing his own guns, Phoenix knew it was the right call to make; one missile changing track is just that, one. Two, that's either coincidence or smart missiles, and it's best to be safe than sorry in that instance. Still, Vipers were lost to missile strikes.

Within just seconds the two sides collided in a deadly wave throwing everything they had into one another, pulling away from the cannons of a Heavy Raider, Phoenix fired as many bullets as he could at it, only to find that it had much thicker armour than the average raider. Breaking off contact, Phoenix sought out another Heavy Raider, aiming to come up on it's tail and see if it had any weak spots there.

The Galactica, leading from the head of the fleet, led BSG16 in a broadside run on the rear of the Cylon Armada, explosive rounds and missiles crossing the gulf between them and in the centre a deadly Viper and Heavy Raider Battle. Adama knew that all he had to do was keep pressing the Cylons here, try to bring the Cylons attention to his group in order to allow Nagala to hit them from the other side. But it was a lot easier said than done.

Keeping the Group in a simple Column formation, Adama turned the fleet into the Cylon Armada, so as to allow both sides of his ships to use their full firepower. The Vipers, engaged in their battle as they were, barely kept up with the accelerating group.

All around the Colonial Fleet under command of Fleet Admiral Nagala, explosive rounds collided against the hulls of suicidal Basestars intent on ramming the already battered Colonial warships into submission. By combining their firepower onto individual Basestars, the Colonials sought to destroy them before they became a bigger threat, but they had to contend with a Cylon fleet that outnumbered them 3 to 1 and was throwing out seemingly inexhaustible amounts of missiles, and bands of Cylon Centurions fighting the Colonials from within their very ships.

As the suicidal Basestars drew closer under the withering fire of the Colonial ships, more than a dozen started to show that they were weakening, unable to cope with the vast amounts of damage they were taking, then like overheated corn kernels, the Basestars started to crack and explode under the heavy fire, spewing out their entire atmosphere and guts into the void of space and more importantly sending tens of thousands of tonnes of wreckage on ballistic trajectories, much of it towards the Colonial warships which against so many deadly kinetic missiles had little defence apart from their point defences.

Unable to do much against the wreckage heading their way the Colonials turned their fire towards the other inbound Cylon Basestars, spewing out as much damage as they could and taking nearly as much in return against their resilient armour plating, but this was unable to stop all the deadly energies resulting from the hundreds of missile impacts as was shown when the Battlestar Saracen and twelve support ships either lost power or exploded as their armour melted through. Despite the Colonials carrying on firing at the inbound Cylon Basestars, taking out dozens more, it was still too late. Colliding against rapidly manoeuvring Battlestars and support ships, the huge amounts of energy contained within both tee Colonial ships and the Cylon Basestars was expended in a huge cacophony of fire, gas and twisted debris that seemed to consume space at the point of impact, corrupting the hulls of nearby warships with the amount of radiation released and quelling hope within many Colonial hearts. Yet still the Colonials fought on until the last suicidal Basestar was destroyed by multiple nuclear impacts. But the damage was done.

Just not to the Colonials.

After the debris started to clear, still standing in a fractured but still an obvious box formation stood more than half the ships it had before the Cylons had launched their suicidal assault. What was even more surprising was that out of 19 Battlestars that had stood entered the box formation, only 4 had been lost with all hands, two more were so severely damaged that they were undergoing a full evacuation as per standing orders issued at the start of the battle, and a further five had taken heavy damage but were still capable of fighting. Joining those Battlestars, of the 57 support ships that had been in the formation, 21 had either been destroyed or were so badly damaged that they had to be evacuated, whilst many more were suffering with damage. The Cylons on the other hand, with their weaker hulls and lack of point defences and fighter support (virus), had lost 50 damaged Basestars in the suicide run, the majority before they even hit the Colonial Fleet, putting the remaining Cylon warships at 126.

At the same time that the flanking Cylon fleet was pressing forward against the main Colonial fleet, the flanking Battlestar sections (2 & 8 on Cylons left flank, 6 & 12 on Cylons right flank) performing broadsides on the Cylon fleet shifted their trajectory to slip in amongst the Cylon Basestars so as to fully utilise all their weapons, especially their far stronger bow cannons. This meant that instead of being hit from the one side by the Basestars, they were instead being hit from both all sides, but the benefits far outweighed the costs as it meant the Cylons were having to further split their forces easing up the pressure on the main fleet and BSG16.

Basestars started to get chewed up by the hundreds of shells impacting across their hulls even as they shot out as many missiles, both conventional and nuclear, across the paths of the two flanking fleets. Vipers and point defences, struggled against hope to hold back these missiles. For the Viper Pilots, this was a struggle that many pilots had already lost as they had already past into the realms of deadly poisoning making some pilots puke in their helmets, pass out, or just choke on their own fluids. As it was, only a third of the Viper Pilots were still alive across the entire fleet brought by Admiral Nagala, but that in no way lessened their deadliness, in fact it made them far more deadly because now they knew they were most likely already dead. Explosions tore through ships on both sides as the two flanking fleets drove deep into the centre of the Cylon Armada, with the already heavily damaged (from Nagala's long range shots at the start of the battle) Cylon fleet falling a lot faster. For every three Basestars destroyed by the flanking Colonial fleets the Colonials were losing two ships, with the support ships being the most likely to fall first.

Co-ordinating the main Colonial fleet aboard the Atlantia, Nagala pushed a crashed monitor from a now cracked plot table and onto a wire strewn floor (courtesy of DC teams struggling to maintain power and data connections throughout the fracturing warship). Going through what information could be garnered about the battle and struggling to ignore the ongoing orders of **Master Sergeant** as he struggled to co-ordinate his marines in holding back and ultimately stopping the infiltrating force of Cylon Centurions. Then, understanding finally fell upon Nagala as he realised that even though they were outnumbered, the Colonial fleet was now entering into a winning position since the Cylon fleet was now far more heavily damaged and split between the various flanks (even when considering the missing 50 Basestars). The main problem Nagala had was the flanking Basestars, if he could hold them off, even for a few minutes then he could fully turn this battle into the Colonials favour.

"By the Gods…" Nagala muttered as he saw exactly what he needed to buy time, "Fleet Actual to Leonis Picket fleet, you are to intercept Cylon Basestars at rear of main fleet. Main fleet you are to break into sections and expand outwards in Praxis formation. Section 7 you are to merge with section 10". Following his orders as soon as they were received, the Colonial fleet emerged from their box formation, flattening out into a circle that started expanding outwards, whilst at the same time firing at the Cylon fleet arrayed around them. Then the circle started to rotate in a clockwise manner (as seen from above the ecliptic [think of wagons in a circle surrounded by Native americans]). A constant wall of fire was presented in this immense, continuous broadside, the shots slamming against the hulls of the Cylon vessels, and in the centre of the circle another broadside was performed against Basestars aiming to slip over or under the fleet and attack from the centre. This was a manoeuver only a handful of Basestars attempted as it soon became clear that by doing this, they were taking the combined fire from every Colonial warship in this formation.

Instead the Cylons started to create another circle around the Colonial fleet so as to copy what the Colonials had just done to the Basestars that had just attempted to attack from the centre. As the flanking Cylon Basestars attempted to press their attack to the extreme, the small number of Picket ships jumped in right behind them, firing every weapon as soon as they exited the jump at the rear Basestars which responded in kind. However, two Picket ships (light cruisers) hadn't jumped with the other Picket Ships claiming their jumpdrives were malfunctioning and were threatening to blow, hence a major evacuation of their crews. The Picket Ships that had jumped were getting ripped apart by the far stronger Basestars but were still continuing to fire all the ammunition and missiles they could at them.

That's when bursting into the middle of the flanking Cylon ships came the two malfunctioning Light cruisers, both on ramming courses with different Basestars and both firing every single missile they could at the other Basestars. Due to the forced evacuations of the vast majority of the crews, the rest of the weapons were firing on automatic, the skeleton crew that remained had volunteered to remain until the end. Nuclear fire lit up space around them as the Basestars were engulfed by the missiles, and unable to respond fast enough in order to evade the oncoming Cruisers, two more Basestars stuttered in their tracks as the cruisers collided with them, both sets of hulls crumpling before the Cylons relatively hollow hull cracked like eggs and disappeared under the deadly explosions of engines, tylium and ammunition stores. The entire flanking Basestar section seemed to suffer from this surprise attack even when it was over as the Picket Ships exploited the fractured formation, ploughing straight into it.

The Cartwheeling main fleet (colonial) whilst firing at and destroying as many Basestars as they could, was still being hit hard by the Cylons, support ships and Battlestars, already heavily damaged and no longer able to maintain a combat standing, started to evacuate all personnel even as they broke formation and entered into suicide runs on the Cylon Basestars firing out every nuclear missile that they could at them. Even in their death throes these Colonial warships were still hitting the Cylons with all their might.

Sections two and eight (attacking from left flank of Cylon fleet) minus the now destroyed Battlestars Acrotiri, Kos and Samos and half the support ships, finally reached the centre of the Cylon fleet, leaving a wake of destruction behind them. Sweeping past the Cylons, hitting them with every shot and missile they could, this combined section sped over the top of the Main Colonial fleet and into the centre where it performed a tight turn in order to slip into an open spot in the formation and fall back under direct command of Nagala.

Sections 6 and 12 on the other hand, (coming from the right flank) had lost two Battlestars the Sophocles and Chelae as well and only had 3 support ships left (a heavy cruiser, missilestar and a destroyer). Behind them the Cylon Basestars, those that had survived, were following close behind, firing all they had corralling the combined section towards the centre.

Adding up the numbers and damage reports in his mind, Nagala shouted into his headset, "All ships, keep it up, by the Gods we are winning!" and then reason seemed to dawn upon him as he realised exactly what the Cylons were doing.

From above the Cylon Armada, the Galactica and the remnants of BSG16 continued their deadly and vicious assault upon the Cylon Basestars, spewing out every round and missile they could and taking missiles in return. Fired from one of Galactica's launch tubes, Captain David 'Phoenix' Cain joined onto the wing of his newly acquired wingman, Lieutenant Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace, and both sped forward into the deadly battle against what seemed to be almost the entirety of the Cylon Armada's Heavy Raiders. Each pilot seemed to complement the other as they worked their way through dozens of twists and turns as they struggled to stay out of the line of fire of both the Heavy Raiders and their own allies that may make the mistake of shooting first before they fully realised what they were shooting at.

Diving in after two Heavy Raiders, one behind the other, both Pilots opened up their guns targeting the upper right and left corners of the rear vessel (positions believed to be the locations of the primary heat exchangers and so had the thinnest hull according to Intel garnered by the Graystones). Despite the best efforts of the Heavy Raider to avoid this fire, the expert marksmanship of both pilots ensured that the shots stayed true and a kill was awarded in a tumultuous explosion. Hitting their reaction jets both pilots skidded around this cloud of deadly debris and got a visual of a now turned around Heavy Raider that had opened up with it's bow Cannons on the cloud of debris which prompted Cain to think the Heavy Raider must have believed they would fly through the debris cloud. Both pilots fired their cannons straight at the red line of the cockpit and the cannons beneath it, scoring numerous hits until the glass cracked, and the atmosphere and guts escaped to be flash frozen in the Vacuum of space.

Turning again, in order to chase down an errant missile, Starbuck saw something that made her gasp. Hearing her surprise over the open wireless circuit, Phoenix went to ask what was wrong until he saw it himself, but Kara was quicker on the uptake. "Starbuck, Galactica. The Cylons are pulling back their Basestars in a huge circle above the main fleet. It almost seems like a hurricane's eye".

"Galactica, Starbuck. We see it…"

Within the CIC of the dying Battlestar Atlantia, Fleet Admiral Nagala also saw it, and truly saw it for what it was the middle of a trap. "All ships, break, break, break. Get clear of the centre, the Cylons are going to jump in a fleet of fifty Basestars".

The hull seemed to scream as the engines were drove beyond limits they were ever designed to pass as the Atlantia and her section turned to sharply accelerate away from the protective circle in the middle of the eye. But it was already too late.

Jumping right on top of them, instead of being the fifty Basestars that had jumped out earlier in the Battle, was instead something far, far larger and deadly. This construct dwarfed any Colonial installation ever created and seemed as if it could swallow up nearly a hundred Battlestars. At the same time the fifty Basestars jumped into positions surrounding the edge of the Colonial Fleet, blocking their escape.

Aboard the tertiary Command Basestar, James Cavil seemed to grin with glee as the trap became revealed to the Colonials. And he muttered out loud, "Colonials meet the Colony, Colony the Colonials". Turning to a Six, "Order the Colony to open fire, all ships are to follow suit".

With that cold command, Cannons extended from the Colony, some of them being deadly Plasma Cannons, and started opening up on the weakened Colonial Fleet beneath it. This fire joined the hundreds of missiles fired by the surrounding Cylon Fleet in slamming into the Colonial Vessels.

As the entire Battlestar was thrown about under this deadly, chaotic attack, Nagala knew that they had lost, he had underestimated the Cylons and now the Colonials would pay with not only their lives, but their very civilisation. As crewmembers shouted information and orders to each other as reason started to break down along with the colonial fleet under this hammer blow of an assault, Nagala seemed to find a serenity as he opened to Fleet Comm. "Fleet Actual to all Ships, if you can then I order you to jump to Omicron, I repeat jump to Omicron. Admiral Adama you are hereby ordered to take charge of fleet and resources and carry out standing orders. All other ships are to evacuate any personnel you can and cover those ships that can jump. Open up all weapons on …the new Cylon Vessel, all nukes…everything…"

The orders were followed as soon as they were received, crewmembers looking at each other as a kind of farewell and an understanding that any wrongs were forgiven, or just as a declaration of respect. Across the surrounded fleet, weaker support ships, already heavily damaged exploded as did the Furious and Kyrenia. Glancing at his crewmembers as they went about performing their duties, Nagala spoke "I won't think any less of any of you if you leave; the Gods know that Bill could do with men and women like you".

The Helmsman turned to Nagala and before the XO could reply, he spoke "With all due respect sir, Frak you if you think I'm leaving". Many in the CIC nodded at the helmsman's words including the XO. Nevertheless an order was still piped through the ship's com that anyone who could evacuate should. The entire ship shook as beams of Plasma struck her, melting through gun turrets and hull plating.

From every Battlestar that could, emergency Raptors and transports filled almost to overflowing with evacuating crewmembers launched barely even clearing the flightpods before jumping. The support ships however, only had a small number of Raptors aboard, and most of these had been destroyed already in the deadly fighting so only a handful were able to launch and jump. Those support ships still with functioning jumpdrives vanished in balls of light, one never quite making it as a nuclear missile hit it right on the precipice of the jump.

The four Battlestars still with functioning jumpdrives, waited as long as they could in order to collect those Vipers that were still fighting. Nagala had the remaining, besieged fleet provide covering fire for these ships, the fleet continuing to take vast amounts of damage but unable to dish out much of their own as the Cylon Colony and her fleet poured thunderous amounts of fire at the Colonial remnant. Suddenly the Battlestar Antigone, one of those still with a functioning jumpdrive, exploded as a bright blue beam of plasma burnt past her armour and struck her tylium reserves. The Battlestars Danos, Valkyrie and Tigress struggled to hold on against this overwhelming amount of fire and still keep an unspoken oath to the pilots of the fleet to never leave them behind.

Jumping into the centre of the eye, barely two hundred metres away from the Tigress, the Galactica and the remnants of BSG16 (Defiant, Hades and six support ships)added their own protection to these three Battlestars, risking everything for them, but not enough to save the Danos as the Cylon Centurions that had boarded it, detonated charges next to the primary jump coils which were already highly charged and sent a feedback pulse deep into the jumpdrive itself, and ripping the ship apart in the resulting explosion.

Upon seeing the Galactica and the rest of her adopted group jump into this deadliest of zones, Admiral Nagala immediately got on the wireless. "Gods dammit it Bill, Get your fracking ships out of here right now. We can't afford to lose your ships".

Responding immediately Admiral Adama, the pain easily apparent in his gravelly voice answered "We will once we have all the pilots we can get back aboard…"he paused as a group of missiles one of them nuclear, struck the Galactica.

Angered at his old friend's impetuousness, Nagala was relieved to see the last of the pilots perform combat landings on the various Battlestars, "Now Bill. Jump!"

As the remnants of group sixteen and the Battlestars Tigress and Valkyrie jumped, Adama spoke one last time to one of his oldest of friends, "It's been an honour sir. Give them hell". Then with that the Galactica jumped, just escaping a deadly hit from a plasma round.

Once Galactica jumped, Nagala muttered, "We will…" then in the midst of all the destruction befalling his CIC, he spoke up "All ships are to set a ramming course on the largest Cylon contact. Let's blow that bitch from the sky".

His XO, a grin creasing his face even amongst all the death and destruction that was surrounding them, nodded "With great pleasure sir". For Paul it was a chance to show the Cylons that even though the Colonials were losing, they would lose with style. As monitors crashed to the ground and consoles exploded, crewmembers followed the last orders they would ever receive.

The Battlestars Atlantia, Surprise and Aetna turned as did the six remaining support ships, missiles, explosive rounds and plasma rounds struck every ship as they closed at full speed on the goliath that was the Cylon Colony. Three support ships disappeared under the nuclear flames of eight nuclear missiles and armour plating peeled from the Battlestars from the intense heat of the Plasma.

Nagala waited for the end, filling his teacup one last time with a bottle of ambrosia and handing the rest of the bottle to Paul. Seconds ticked by as the mighty Battlestar crumbled under the intense fire the Cylons were throwing out; the entire port flightpod was gutted by fire which was quickly spreading to the fuel lines. The Battlestar Aetna exploded as she was struck by a nuclear missile on her rear. Yet still the Atlantia and Surprise drove on, all the while the Colony was accelerating away from them. Lifting his cup to his lips, Nagala could hear the sound of gunfire down a distant corridor as Marines still fought the Centurions sent aboard. The Surprise was soon hit by a succession of plasma rounds which tore apart her already weakened bow and burned their way deep into the Battlestar causing multiple internal explosions, the resulting debris hitting one of the last support ships. The last two support ships being destroyed by a group of Basestars which sped in from the side firing everything they had. Nagala knew that Atlantia was going to be the next hit before they ever reached the colony.

"Admiral, engineering reports jump drives have been repaired", the XO shouted upon hearing the report.

Nagala struggled to believe it, "What do you think Paul?"

Paul knew exactly what Nagala meant and quickly replied, "The ship's done for, I'm pretty sure the crew will be behind you on this one".

Nodding Nagala computed a jump co-ordinate and sent it to the helm, nobody said a thing as they knew what to expect. Shaking Paul's hand, Nagala announced, "It has been an honour working with all of you. May you make a safe journey to Elysium".

The crew that was still alive replied as one, "So say we all!"

Before the Killing blow could reach the Atlantia from the Cylon Colony, the heavily battered but still resilient Battlestar Atlantia jumped…

…Appearing almost instantly a hundred metres from the Colony. Her previous momentum carried her forward against the base of the Colony and crashing into her as the last of her nuclear missiles fired. This amount of damage was too much for the Atlantia as her fuel lines ignited, ammunition stores detonated and her Tylium reservoirs were licked by flames. Explosions engulfed the entire Battlestar and bled into the Colony just as the last three nuclear missiles struck it's hull, burning brighter than a thousand suns.

And then it was over. The Battle for Leonis was lost.

* * *

**Well, hoped you liked this chapter. As I said at the start I will be exploring part of Adama's role next chapter. Reviews appreciated.**


	11. Chapter 11 Honour, Blood and death

**Sorry it's taken a while to get this chapter together, it's actually two chapters combined just couldn't work out where to have a break and was watching Olympics and paralympics. The Battle also didn't seem to want to come together and I was just going to cut it altogether. I'm also introducing one new and one established character. HAVE JUST UPDATED WITH THE BATTLE THAT I WANTED, SORRY IF YOU ARE HAVING TO READ IT AGAIN BUT THERE ARE A FEW THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT IN THE LONG RUN, ONE IN PARTICULAR.**

**Blood, Honour and Death**

**Ragnar Anchorage**

**Battlestar Galactica**

Drifting at the edge of the green clouds that were the border of a slowly rotating hurricane that had trawled it's way across the Gas Giant of Ragnar for centuries, Lieutenant Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace sat watching and waiting for any sign of the Cylons or Colonials jumping in. Nearby, equally well hidden were two Assault Raptors and a wing of Mk-II Vipers. It wasn't the fact that the Colonies were again at war with the Cylons that had Kara confused. No, instead it was the fact that since the death of Galactica's CAG she had been given the job ahead of the handful of Captains that still survived. The Old Man had said that it was because he needed someone he could count on that was not just willing but able to lead from the front and know which Pilots needed help or where she or they needed to be. Most of all, the Old Man needed a CAG that could inspire the other Pilots. All of these aspects have to be instinctual; they just can't be learnt anywhere near as well. It was just hard for Kara not to experience a strong, sickening feeling of guilt knowing that she didn't deserve this after what happened with Zac.

Suddenly bright flashes started to flare before her. Double checking that she was operating in silent running and that she could be at full power at the flip of a single switch, Kara waited until her Dradis announced these new contacts as the warships of Battlestar Group Sixteen plus one unknown contact (New Basestars are known by the war book). Using her manoeuvring thrusters to turn her Viper around, she flash-coded who the contacts could be and for Racetrack to set off back to the Galactica in order to warn them. Turning her Viper back around and using her targeting scope's magnification, she made out multiple squadrons worth of Vipers, mainly Mk-II's, launching not from a single Battlestar, but from every Battlestar. These Vipers then started to form up into individual formations just off the Battlestar Group. However, three Vipers set off towards the eye of the slowly rotating hurricane that Kara was orbiting in her hidden position. Coming to rest 2km away from her and making Kara feel uneasy in their approach, she saw the lead Viper start flashing a message to her. Deciphering it as;

"[Battle]star group sixteen and Nemea to Galactica. Priority one message [for] Galactica Actual. Galactica['s] assistance required at Leonis. Major counter-attack underway. Request verbal communications. [Signed] AGS Captain David Cain Battlestar Defiant. Pilot Code Epsilon Bet Omicron 4 2 5.".

Seeing the signatory and having memorised his code from the amount of times she'd read it in the Academy where she trained Cain (normally have to re-transmit pilot code back to Galactica for verification), Kara felt a hint of surprise and a smile creep across her face. Having been authorised to make verbal contact with any verified Colonial contacts, but wanting to be cautious in case this was all part of some elaborate Cylon trap (although, Admiral Adama had told her that there was a chance that if BSG16 turned up then they would possibly be flying Mk-II's), Starbuck flipped her Viper over and flashed her intentions to the hidden Vipers and Raptors, then fully powered her Viper up and flew towards the three BSG16 Vipers.

"Phoenix, Starbuck. Code is verified and Galactica Actual is being informed of your arrival. Expect a reply within a minute. You are not to use long range communications, use short range only and until I receive orders from Galactica Actual then you are not to approach closer than 1km from the eye. It's good to see you Phoenix".

"Starbuck, Phoenix. Understood and it's good to see you too".

**Galactica CIC**

"We need to use what time we can get to our advantage in case things don't go to our advantage. That's why I'm sending Nemea to Virgon in order to oversee the evacuation. Hopefully this won't be necessary but I have my orders. Commander Stiles, you won't have long to perform an evacuation, so make your priority food, medical supplies, Tylium and children. If I know Nagala, then he would have had the defensive satellites placed on manual control, so if he has then you are to position yourself within their protection, and at the first sign of a Cylon attack you are to jump as soon as possible. I also need you to leave all of your tugs behind, you shouldn't have much need of them and Virgon has Tugs of it's own", Admiral Adama ordered over the short range wireless while he waited for BSG16's Vipers to finish being loaded into their respective Battlestars and for the scout Raptors he had dispatched to Leonis to return.

Continuing to read the numerous reports, most of them little more than a paragraph collated from throughout the fleet, Adama pieced together new orders as he went, his many years in the service now proving their worth in his new position as an Admiral, "I understand there are still ships that can be brought back into service at the Boneyards, so I'm dispatching the Yarbrough and the tugs there. We need any ship that can be brought back into service with the least amount of effort. Battlestars, destroyers, marinestars, mining ships, civilian transports, anything that can be brought back into service with the minimal effort. We're going to lose a lot of ships at Leonis and the ability to have a fresh fleet ready after the battle is necessary. Once you have the ships then you are to jump to the following co-ordinates…" Dee transmitted the co-ordinates, "…and await word from the rest of the fleet".

**Caprica Orbit**

**Medstar Panacea fleet**

**Medstar Panacea under Command of Commander Acheron (reactivated Commission) and 'guided' by civilian Tamalyn Adams (Tamara Adama)**

Above the boiling, dust choked skies of Caprica, almost like a stark testament to the ferocious battle which had claimed so many lives, were the fractured hulls of many defeated Colonial ships. Distress calls still carried across the distance from Pilots clinging to hope in either dead Vipers and Raptors or in their ejection seats, this was one of the most feared ways to die for a pilot, alone, where every breath is using up their limited supply of oxygen and their heating systems are degrading. It seemed that all they had left was the torture of waiting for death to finally take them. Then came hope as more than a hundred ships jumped in centred around the Medstar Panacea. The formation was sloppy, evidence that the crews were out of practice, this was further supported by the fact that it took almost a minute before the first Vipers and Raptors started to launch. But in the end, to those trapped, dying in space, none of this mattered, what did matter was that help was here. As Raptors rushed to the pilots transponder beacons another group of Raptors broke off and headed down towards Caprica, these Raptors were followed a couple of minutes later by more than half of the Medstar's fleet of primarily civilian and private security ships (Leonis estates sparkling wines and Enterprise Solutions). These ships headed in on trajectories that took them towards what were once some of the most heavily populated cities on Caprica, now they were little more than empty shells, skyscrapers and the majority of the infrastructure still stood in many of these cities, but where once there was a thriving population considered to be the driving force of the twelve colonies there was now barely a handful of survivors. That is except in a handful of locations.

"Ma'am we have Amanda on the line" Ensign Ballard called out from his new position at the comm board.

Tamara, not much changed in her Tauron appearance despite the extra five genetic years on her new body, picked up the handset and activated channel 1. "The time came that the eagles left the nest…" Tamara spoke the code phrase into the microphone.

"…Whispers singing off their wings", Amanda replied finishing the recognition code.

Glad to know that Amanda didn't need to be resurrected but with time running out Tamara continued, "What's the status of our people?"

Her voice crackling on the wireless, a result of the intense EM fields and radiation waves dominating Caprica's atmosphere, Amanda replied "We've lost a lot of people, too many…Gods, only a quarter survived, most of the others died before the nukes hit. The Cylons have some sort of biological machine acting as the Basestars MCP…I'll tell you more later, right now we need to get the survivors out. You should have the locations of all the bunkers…" (As a safety precaution, it was decided long before the Cylons returned that locations of bunkers, assets and safe havens wouldn't be transmitted over the wireless in case the Cylons were listening in. As such they memorised every location).

"The first SAR birds are en route to all locations, eta 1 minute. Any word on Cyrus?"

"Not yet, he was at the CORA labs when the bombardment began. If he hasn't resurrected by now then he should be in one of the labs bunkers".

**Battlestar Galactica**

Gripping the side of the plot table as dozens of intense hammer-like explosions rocked his ship; Admiral Adama searched the dradis monitors and his tactical feeds for anything that could aid them in this battle, whether it be a sign of weakness in the Cylon ships or correcting a flaw in Colonial manoeuvres. Two things were clear, as surprised as the Cylons had been when he jumped them, they were quickly starting to adapt and the Cylon Basestars were far more agile than a Battlestar, agile to an unprecedented degree for a ship of it's size.

Having just ordered his ships to turn towards the Cylon Fleet rather than continue it's broadside run on them, Adama saw the opening he needed as a Basestar that had been covering two others exploded as the Galactica's bow batteries slammed their heavy anti-ship rounds into it's already heavily damaged central section. "Helm, maximum speed on course 107 carom 251. Have Hunter cover Hades' upper starboard quarter and drop Talon and Defiant back two kilometres with a 4 kilometre separation. Calypso, Useb and Arrow take up covering positions between Galactica and Defiant and have the rest of the support ships stay with their assigned ships…" seeing the seconds ticking away before the dive into death and needing to have his small fleet prepared, Adama continued, "…this is going to be a fast attack people, have the pilots informed they need to be aware of their positions relative to the fleet, we can't turn back".

Even while the Cylons were trying to manoeuvre their Basestars into position to block the hole in their formation, the changing Colonial formation fired everything it had from it's bow and side batteries as it slipped into the weakened spot. Gout's of flame and deadly metal covered the dwindling area between the two fleets. Basestars at the leading edge of the armada franticly tried to reorient themselves so that their relatively undamaged aspects were presented to the Colonial fleet, but in the chaos of the maelstrom of shots heading their way, explosions pocketed the damaged Cylon warships, the rotations only serving to exacerbate the damage until, by the time Galactica had passed beyond the threshold the Basestars started to explode, showering space with their debris. The damage wasn't one sided, of the thousands of missiles constantly being fired at the Colonial warships, dozens were making their way through the barriers of flak and Vipers to collide against the well armoured warships. Armoured hull plating started to corrupt at its seams, weakening the underlying colonial superstructures. Internal pipes carrying the lifeblood of the warships in the form of Tylium, coolant and oxygen were being shook hard in their mountings threatening to break free as DC teams struggled to contain them and fix a dozen other problems at the same time. Things would have been a lot worse if not for the Gunstar Loki providing covering fire for the Galactica.

Even though the Basestars around this new entry point were starting to fall in ever increasing numbers as damage accrued across their surfaces, there was still more than enough to strike fear into the rest of Battlestar Group Sixteen. Following close behind Galactica and her newly acquired escort, the heavily damaged Battlestar Hades with the Battlestar Hunter covering her starboard side started trading blows with the Cylons. Seeing the weakness in Hades starboard side, the Cylons did everything they could to exploit it, concentrating most of their fire towards these 'tears' in the battlestar's skin. Walls of flak were redirected from both Hades and Hunter's point defences in order to take down this overwhelming volume of missiles, and it was working, to a point. But then the numbers started to work in the Cylons favour as missile after missile started slamming into the hull around the damaged sections. Plumes of air and geysers of fire erupted from these cracks in Hades armour, fragments of cracked hull plating and debris rocketed away from Hades as the damage exponentially increased. But most of this was thankfully superficial to a certain extent, prior to the start of the battle these sections had been evacuated and locked down, thanks to these measures the damage to the Battlestar was significant and it was getting worse but it was in fact worse than it looked. The same could not be said for the Basestars which were taking a severe pounding from Hades, Hunter and their escorts and then came a momentry reprieve before the Battlestars Talon and Defiant passed through this chaotic entry point. Struggling to keep up with the fleet were the hundreds of Vipers and Raptors launched by the Battlestar Group, each one rapidly running out of ammunition, fuel and more importantly their lives as they passed through radiation rich space or were gunned down by Heavy Raiders, friendly fire or dozens of different methods.

Accelerating as hard as he could in order to keep up with the Battlestar Group, Phoenix passed into the deadly fields of fire caused by the thousands of missiles fired at BSG16, the shifting shots of the Colonial warships and the explosions of missiles that were exploding prematurely. Keeping his distance from the Battlestars so as to keep himself from being killed by the missiles impacting them, he chased after the fleet. Flashes littered space as Vipers exploded from stray shots and deadly shrapnel hit them, clouds of bright gas burst forth from a nearby Basestar engulfing the dozens of heavy raiders near it and choking them in deadly fire and debris. This debris combined with the debris of at least a half dozen other Basestars that were being chewed up in this deadly entry by the Colonial ships, was travelling at hypersonic velocities, some of it headed into the paths of the Colonial ships, in effect it was much harder to travel through this area and not get hit than it was to travel through a dense asteroid belt. Jinking his viper up as he caught sight of the Viper in front of him exploding as it was speared by a missile, Phoenix felt his Viper judder as shrapnel impacted his underside when either that missile exploded or a hundred other possible occurences, he just didn't have time to think. Suddenly a Viper to his left, crumpled at the nose and was catapulted backwards as a damaged Heavy Raider collided with it head on. Phoenix wanted to reassure his pilots in Mohican Squadron's Green wing, but he didn't have the time, nor the nerve to distract them. For the umpteenth time his viewport dimmed as another nuclear missile exploded ahead of him, taking out gods knows how many viper and raptor pilots before dying down. Phoenix knew that enough hulls would remain that he was forced to activate his wireless and hope any nearby Pilots heard him, "All pilots, Phoenix. Slip in behind Galactica's engines, I repeat slip in behind Galactica's engines". Forcing a huge burst of gas from his manoeuvring jets while double checking his dradis, Phoenix pulled across the battlefield, narrowly avoiding the corrupted hull of a possible Raptor which crashed against Galactica before he entered the calm that was being dragged by Galactica. Debris and missiles still came from the sides but it was far safer than ploughing into the debris of past ships, something that dozens of other pilots must have firmly believed as they started flocking behind Galactica while keeping clear of the deadly energies spewing out of her powerful engines. Smashing through the hull of his cockpit, a jagged shiny and bloody piece of metal narrowly avoided ripping Cain's arm off as it was halted by his hull making Cain thank the Gods for small miracles. The amount of debris sweeping through suddenly died down, meaning only one thing to Phoenix, "All Vipers/Phoenix, get a wingman and take up guard positions".

Pulling out of the relative safety of Galactica's rear and into the deadly battles that plagued many Viper pilots and heavy raiders, Phoenix heard over the crackle of his wireless, "Phoenix/Defiant, Contact [has] been [lo]st with Morpheus and [Ro]cker. You are now in command of Mohican Squadron"

Even while Defiant was contacting Phoenix, Basestars started to close on the rapidly moving Colonial ships, risking damage and quite possibly destruction from the colonials if they could just do the same in return, and due to the Cylons having completely surrounded the Colonials, the fleet ships were no longer able to concentrate their point defences into tight corridors of firepower meaning more missiles were hitting their marks.

**CAPRICA**

**OUTSKIRTS OF DELPHI**

**CORA LABS (CLONED ORGAN RESEARCH AND ADVANCEMENT) **

The deafening screech of metal on concrete echoed throughout the dark, dust choked corridors of this long disused bunker as a heavy blast door was shifted. A beam of light was scattered by the billions of dust motes flooding the atmosphere and then the familiar cock of a gun's hammer being drawn back was heard. A crouched figure, the bearer of said gun and torch, shifted his focus back behind him, "It seems clear for now, I need you all to stay behind me. Those with torches spread yourselves along the line, and I want guns to the front and centre. Everyone take 2 emergency bags. And whatever you do, do not touch the walls or doors and do not make a noise; chances are this whole place could collapse any moment. All right, follow me".

The elderly, darkened skinned male moved forward and into the gloomy corridor closely followed by more than 200 humans, all of them civilians and many dressed in white lab coats. An uneasy crunch echoed throughout the complex as shoes crushed small divots of concrete underfoot. Torch beams were waived about, taking in everything around them until at last the group had walked a hundred and fifty metres in an upwards slope and had reached a heavy set of blast doors. To the right of the doors were two dials, and an old telephone, one of these dials was a simple clock whilst the other had three coloured sections (green, amber and red). Approaching the coloured dial, the elderly man took a close look at the radiation gauge before saying, "The radiation levels are at a thousand rems, it's survivable but you need to keep yourselves topped up with anti-rad injections every 8 hours. All right lets…" At that very moment 4 bangs echoed from the heavy blast doors, there was a pause and then 2 more, another pause and 3 more.

The elderly man recognised the sequence immediately and moved to pick up the phone while most of the people behind him shrank further back down the corridor, fearful of what may be on the other side of the door. Those with guns on the other hand, felt a small measure of security and copying what they had learnt from hundreds of movies, took up positions around the door, positions that if there were Cylons on the other side, would mean almost instant death to the defenders. Picking up the phone, the elderly man listened to the voice on the other end before he pulled a lever next to the door which started pulling the door into a recess. At the same time he said, "Relax, they're friendlies" putting the defenders at ease.

A toxic yellow beam of sunlight blasted into the corridor from the opening door, both the beam and the door enlarging every instant. Silhouetted in the centre were three large figures with more at the very periphery of the doors and in the distance could be heard the unmistakeable hum of a collection of Raptors. Stepping forward, the central silhouette stepped into the light of the defenders torches revealing that he was at least six foot, strongly built and dressed in Enterprise Solutions security gear, cradled in both his arms was an AR-72 assault rifle (a gun favoured in the first Cylon war and still sought after today). Stepping forward and shaking the elderly man's outstretched hand, the security guard said with a deep timbre to his voice "I'm glad to see you survived Cyrus, we thought something had gone wrong with your resurrection". As he made to reply the security guard stopped him short, "We don't have the time sir; right now we need to get you all out of here. The Medstar Panacea is in orbit and I have some techies moving to the mainframe right now. Here's a secure line to Tamara", he handed an advanced military Satellite phone to Cyrus before turning to the survivors.

Speaking into the phone, Cyrus, one of Daniel Graystone's oldest friends, the man who put his own life on the line when he protected them from a corrupt GDD agent on the eve of a planned terrorist bombing listened in as Tamara revealed just how badly the colonies had been hit and how the Battle of Leonis was taking shape.

**Battlestar Group 16**

Accelerating down the Galactica's launch tubes, fresh on ammunition and fuel Cain was thrust right back into the deadly cat and mouse that was taking place between Vipers and Heavy Raiders. Tearing after him as soon as both he and his newly acquired wingman left their tubes, his wingmate's Viper was chewed up by the Heavy's Chain Guns before it turned it's fire on Phoenix. Twisting his stick right and then feeding, then rapidly rotating it as he fed gas to his manoeuvring jets, Cain's Viper spun around a horizontal axis narrowly avoiding the deadly rounds that were being churned out by the Heavy before Phoenix spun his Viper in a tight 180 degree arc with the added momentum from his spin. Pulling his trigger near the end of his rapid 180 degree turn, Phoenix shattered the red tinted line of glass that seemed to serve as the Heavy's eye when his line of shots ran across the Heavy's bow. Phoenix grinned at the resulting explosion before throwing himself onto the wing of a passing Viper without knowing who it was. Debris from a hundred different explosions danced off of Cain's Viper as he automatically locked onto the strongest wireless signal (usually the closest ships or the largest) and identified the Pilot as Captain Talia "Aquila" Reynolds. A thick pall of black smoke billowed from her rear port engine and her entire portside wing had been torn off, it was testament to both the Mark 2 and the pilot that she was still flying. Cain caught her fire at a passing Heavy Raider, scoring a direct hit on it's flank but not damaging it.

Depressing his "talk" button, "Aquila, Phoenix. I'm on your starboard wing, you ha…" without any warning a ribbon of small explosions started to bleed towards Aquila's upper engine, "…Aquila, eject, eject, eject". Throwing his Viper away from Aquila's Viper, Phoenix saw the upper engine belch a blue flame at the same time the canopy was blown off it's hinges and the pilot was shot out, suddenly the entire ship exploded in a deadly cloud of flame as the main fuel tanks exploded. Pulling around the fireball, Cain saw a new beacon appear on his dradis alerting any nearby recovery Raptor that Aquila was alive. Cain new the Raptors had less than 30 seconds to pick up the Pilot before they would be out of protective range of the fleet.

Noting a Viper without an escort racing after a Heavy Raider carrying nukes, Phoenix sped towards them as fast as he could, making out the Viper's shots connecting and destroying the Heavy Raider but not before the nuclear payload was launched. Turning in a short arc towards the viper as it fired off a couple of salvo's destroying two of the three nukes, Phoenix had to twist his stick sharply to the right in order to avoid a collision with a passing Viper travelling in reverse as it fired everything it had into the bow of an attacking heavy raider. Twisting round himself, Cain followed the Viper pilot in a similar attack on the Raider, seeing how the heavy raider was retaliating in kind with a continuous salvo from it's chain guns peppering the other pilot. Then the heavy started opening it's missile bay as it closed on Galactica at the same time as Cain heard Starbuck transmit, "Shit! Galactica - you've got an inbound nuke! All Vipers - BREAK BREAK BREAK!"

Knowing he couldn't risk the Heavy Raider launching it's missiles at Galactica, Cain sped forward, jinking away from the chain gun's fire while delivering as much pain as he could with his own guns. Expelling a burst of gas from his rear dorsal and forward ventral manoeuvring jets, Phoenix was thrown into an incredibly fast arc allowing him to get an angle on the heavy raider's ventral section and in particular it's open missile bay. Firing everything he had into this small section, Phoenix managed to destroy not only the missiles but the heavy raider itself before he tore after Starbuck.

**Galactica CIC**

Hearing the warning of yet another inbound nuke, Adama started calling out orders to his crewmembers, "Right bow, left stern…emergency full. All ships continue on course…Brace for impact", Adama was by now wondering when their luck would end, would this, the third nuclear missile be the killer blow.

Even as the Galactica twisted and turned away from the nuke, it impacted and a star was born…

Thrown to his knees, the lights in the CIC flickering, Adama made out a gut wrenching sound and multiple explosions in some distant part of his ship. Dragging himself to his feet before most of his crew could he called out "Damage report", he knew it was bad this time.

"Galactica/Starbuck, if you're reading me, the forward section of the port flight pod has sustained heavy damage, I'm seeing multiple fires and explosive decompressions".

Listening in and knowing that comms would be patchy at best due to the radiation, Phoenix called out, "Starbuck/Phoenix, move your Vipers into a covering position around Galactica, I'll do the same. I've got your wing".

"Roger that, Phoenix. Vigilantes, fall in. Galactica's a bit patchy on her port side so let's lend a helping hand. Shoot down anything that approaches".

At the same time, Phoenix activated his own wireless, "Defiant/Phoenix, we need a new landing resupply point for Vigilante Squadron out of Galactica. Galactica's port flight pod has taken extensive damage".

Turning with Starbuck as both she and the rest of the Vigilantes filled space around Galactica, he kept pace as Defiant's comms operator replied, "Phoenix/Defiant, Starbuck/Defiant, Vigilante's are free to resupply at Battlestar Hunter. Mohican Squadron is also to assist Galactica. Out…Longshot/Defiant, you are…"

"Understood. Mohican Squadron/Phoenix, redeploy around Galactica. If you need to, then resupply now, Hunter is free". As fast as Vigilante squadron had filled in the space around the wounded Galactica and Mohican squadron started pulling out of their own battles, linking up with the rest of their squadron and accelerating towards Galactica, the massing ranks hitting the flanks of a great many Heavy Raiders that sought to exploit Galactica's weakened state.

"Vigilantes/Starbuck, lets stop Mohican stealing all our kills". Turning with Starbuck, Phoenix sped ahead of her, and within seconds opened fire on a passing Heavy scoring a series of hits along it's rear starboard quarter before he turned with it only to see Starbuck's own shots finish the job. Glancing a target on his dradis, Phoenix accelerated into his turn bringing both himself and Starbuck onto the upper rear of a damaged Heavy spewing black smoke, opening up with both guns on this damaged section, successfully igniting the Heavy Raider's Tylium. Almost instantly the Heavy Raider seemed to split in two as the rear section burst into flame and the forward section was rocketed away to explode a few seconds later. Starbuck tore past Phoenix and pulled 'up' as she caught sight of a Heavy chasing after a Viper that had lost it's wingman. Firing a short burst at the rapidly moving ship and scoring only a glancing hit, Starbuck cut her speed in order to steady her aim while she fired a second and third burst of deadly fire which strafed and then cracked the Heavy's door, hitting the internal compartment and destroying the brain as the cold vacuum of space froze it.

Catching up with Starbuck, Phoenix heard, "Speedster/Starbuck, get on my tail and follow us until you find another wingman".

**Caprica Far orbit**

**Civilian Fleet**

**Colonial One**

Minute by minute civilian ships were brought into range of the Colonial Civilian Fleet that had been started by newly sworn in President Roslin. It seemed that from the windows of Colonial One and as far as the eye could see there were ships seemingly blocking out the stars. It was an impressive sight, one not seen in the entire history of Colonial Society, but looking at it all, Captain Lee 'Apollo' Adama knew that it was something much more than an impressive sight, it was a target, one of the biggest targets ever seen and that was despite the military ships now taking up positions throughout the formation. These weren't Battlestars and heavy cruisers, instead they were little more than ten picket ships. Near the centre of the formation lay the two largest ships, neither of them true warships, but both of them heavily armoured and armed and just smaller than a Valkyrie class Battlestar, these ships were Marinestars, designed for tactical insertions in the heat of battle, however in ship to ship combat they were little better than a heavy cruiser. They did however have three advantages, they had two flightpods each that primarily carried Raptors, the Marinestars could forcibly dock with conceivably any ship or installation and most importantly the Marinestars were designed for atmospheric entry.

Flying throughout the fleet like a swarm of gnats and docking with every civilian ship were Raptors filled to overflowing with Marines. At each ship three Marines were let off along with their gear and anybody deemed of vital importance was taken aboard before the Raptors moved on. These Marines would act as military liaison officers on board these ships.

"We'll be jumping in a few minutes, Captain", a strong male voice carried from the hatch. Apollo knew who it was straight away, for he now knew that he was no longer the senior military officer around here, he wasn't even close. Turning to face not a marine but a well-respected Colonial army General that had, until less than an hour ago, been retired from active duty and working a desk job. General Antonius was however, a veteran of the first war when he was a Colonel, and due to his experiences and the tactical mind-set he employed in both ground and fleet warfare added to the fact that in his old age (62 although due to his genes and the way he lived his life he could still pass for 50) he wouldn't be best spent on the Colonies, Nagala had ordered him and two battalions here.

"Any word on Leonis, sir?" Apollo asked knowing that the war would be won or lost at Leonis and that there wasn't anything he could do about it. He felt so inadequate at not being able to fight when other Colonials were dying on the other side of the Colonies; there was nothing worse for a pilot or any military officer for that matter than having to sit out a vital battle.

Shaking his head at the whole situation, General Antonius handed the Captain a tactical laptop displaying the battle summary and replied, "Courtesy of the Cicero Royal Barge which just jumped in, it appears that we're winning. Up until a few minutes before they jumped, Nagala was being hard pressed by the Cylons but somehow was slowly turning the battle to his advantage by flanking the Cylons on the left and right flanks and using the picket ships to cover his ass. Then your father jumped in along with Battlestar Group Sixteen, hitting the Cylons rear and forcing them towards Nagala when we want. That's when the results really start to look promising; especially with the Cylons now losing ships faster than us. To be honest son, we aren't likely to get a better chance of defeating the Cylons than what your father just gave us, but I don't want to take the chances that victory is assured, because it isn't. We've been here far too long to be safe; the only reason I stayed longer was so I could get my people on every ship out there and evacuate the rest".

"I understand, sir".

Seeing the look of loss that was creasing the Captain's face, Antonius said, "You should be proud of your father, he's taken the pride of the Colonies into the heart of the battle. Just hope that you don't get your chance, son. Because if you do, it means we have probably already lost", with that said the General turned and walked back through the hatch and towards the cockpit leaving Lee to mull over his words and really think about just what his father had sacrificed for both him and Zak, as well as what he was continuing to sacrifice for not just Lee but the Colonies. For once, Lee wished that they had parted on better terms.

Watching him from the rear hatch of the cabin, President Roslin saw the boy that Lee still was and remembered the coldness she saw that seemed to exist between the Adamas on the Galactica. She then watched him as he moved towards the stairs leading to the hanger bay and had to force herself to turn away from him and back towards her own duties, namely keeping the Praetorian Guard out of her hair while she struggled to figure out just what her people needed and who had survived.

Below in the small Hangar Bay of Colonial One, the recently arrived Raptor piloted by Boomer, emptied itself of the tightly packed refugees it had brought from Caprica. Boomer upon seeing Captain Adama approach, went over to talk to him, taking Doctor Baltar with her. However, the young mother seemed to shrink away into the recesses of the Hangar, glad to be caught up in the flow of Refugees and Praetorian Guard.

**Galactica CIC**

Captain Kelly and Chief Tyrol stood by the main DC console trying to work their way through the mass of damage reports that were feeding their way to them but with one main objective in mind which was to contain a deadly fire in the port landing bay. As Colonel Tigh made his way over to them he caught the tail end of Kelly saying "…tell him to secure the oxygen lines on the starboard relay!" Tyrol relayed the orders to the crews on the ground, barely acknowledging Tigh as he entered.

Tigh, moving towards a diagram of the Galactica pointed at a number of flashing dots in the port bay, "There's structural buckling all along this line! We've gotta get those fires out!"

Kelly, well aware of the situation responded, "I know-I know! But fire suppressant's down. Water mains are down. We're trying to fight it with handheld gear, but…" Kelly was unable to finish as Tyrol looking up from a report he'd been listening to, interrupted "Got another decompression in the launch bay!"

Kelly, glad to have a senior officer with him, even if it was Tigh, asked "What are your orders, sir?" Tigh didn't respond, worrying Kelly "Sir?" Tigh continued to hesitate, risking the lives of not just the DC teams but everyone on board the ship. Kelly and Tyrol seeing that the Colonel had frozen and was more of a deadly hindrance than a help, exchanged a look. As the senior officer out of the two of them Kelly took over issuing orders to Tyrol. Tigh glanced back at Adama, wishing that his old friend had never asked him to become his XO, wishing that he was helping Tigh make the hard choices. This was wrong, he thought, a silent argument tearing through his mind as well ingrained instincts fought with his urge to slip into a deep bottle and drink himself into a stupor. Drifting from Kelly, Tigh caught "…Bring your DC teams in from the landing bay, get'em hand gear and send them into the fire zone".

Hearing Kelly issue the wrong orders and knowing Galactica was in too much risk snapped Tigh out of his reverie, "No. No... We're going to seal off everything forward of frame 30 and start an emergency vent of all compartments".

Tyrol, calculating the effects of these orders combined with previous orders given, said "Wait - I've got at least a hundred people trapped up there behind frame 34! I need a minute to get'em out!"

Tigh, forcing power into his voice responded, "No time - seal it off! Now!"

Kelly, hesitating in the face of such a command, and needing to know that Tigh knew what he was ordering, asked "Sir?" Tyrol on the other hand, with a pleading tone interrupted "They'll only need a minute!"

Tigh snapped, they couldn't afford to question his orders, they were fleet officers Gods damn it. "We don't have a minute! If the fire reaches the hangar deck, it'll ignite the fuel lines and we'll lose the ship! DO IT!"

Kelly hesitated, then realising his superior officer had just given him a direct command, approached the wall console covered in Emergency Breakers and switches, lifting the covers on two switches and throwing them. Watching the indicators go from red to green, Kelly murmured "Sealed"

Stepping forward with death in his stride, Tigh began the emergency venting.

After a few moments, the indicators started to change colour, Kelly spoke out "Venting complete…fire's out".

Looking at the pained expressions on Tyrol and Kelly's faces, Tigh knew what they were thinking, and without much else to say, said "If they remembered their training... they had their suits on... and they were braced for a possible vent action".

Unable to stop the anger from overtaking his voice, Tyrol replied "A lot of rooks in there".

Turning to him, Tigh replied, "None of us are rooks anymore", before turning away.

**BSG16**

Pulling up, Battlestar group sixteen headed for the 'roof' of the Cylon formation, firing their own nuclear weapons in retaliation against the ones the Cylons were firing at them. But the damage had already been done, both against the Cylons and the Colonial warships. In the space of twenty seconds, the Destroyer Arrow and the light cruisers Strobe and Honour collapsed against the might of the Cylon Missiles. Then the missilestar Myrmidon was struck by a trio of nuclear missiles on her starboard flank, miraculously she still survived, although she had lost power, it was the fact that she had lost power that was the problem as she crashed into the ventral hull of the Hunter, ploughing deep into the armoured hull and ripping open the Battlestar's hull in chaotic fiery scenes. The Hunter continued on eventually leaving the battered Myrmidon in it's wake. Within less than 5 more seconds the Myrmidon exploded as leaking Tylium caught fire. The Hunter's Commander ordered a constant rotation so as to prevent the Cylons from getting an accurate lock onto the damaged section even as more explosive decompressions tortured the ship. Suddenly, without any warning a bright light split the Hunter as a nuclear missile that had went unobserved by the dradis operator struck the damaged section below the reserve Tylium Reservoirs. The explosion was immense as the cloud of debris was blasted at phenomenal speeds in all directions before dyeing down to a quiet whisper.

Unable to mourn Hunters death, BSG16 continued on. Breaking out of the Cylon Armada while the surviving nuclear missiles they had fired against the Basestars detonated, BSG 16 levelled out and rolled to present their heaviest guns to the Basestars below them. It was only in this position that it became clear that this little incursion of BSG16 had left plenty of damaged and destroyed Basestars behind. But by now the Cylon formations were already starting to change as the gathered themselves for the killing blow. After only a few minutes all hell broke loose as the Colony jumped on top of Nagala's fleet.

**Galactica CIC**

"…jump to Omicron, I repeat jump to Omicron. Admiral Adama you are hereby ordered to take charge of fleet and resources and carry out standing orders. All other ships are to evacuate any personnel you can and cover those ships that can jump. Open up all weapons on …the new Cylon Vessel, all nukes…everything…" rang throughout the CIC as Admiral Nagala on board the Atlantia came under attack from the Colony.

Shouting out orders, Admiral Adama stood at the centre of a hive of frantic activity feeling as if he had just been kicked in his guts now that the Cylons had revealed their trap, "All Pilots tight combat landings. Gaeta, get me a jump as close to Nagala's fleet as possible…"

Looking aghast at the order, Gaeta set to work knowing not to second guess Adama. Dee called out, "Sir, Phoenix is suggesting opening up the Starboard flightpod with missiles…"

A stone faced Colonel Tigh took over, "Do it, redirect some assault raptors there".

"Racetrack, Furball, Junkie you are ordered to destroy the win…"

"Sir…Jump is set. We'll come out near Tigress…", Gaeta called out.

"Transmit coordinates and jump once our pilots have landed! Talon is to jump to Ragnar" Adama ordered. Suddenly the entire ship momentarily trembled as the immense glass windows which had miraculously survived the battle were destroyed by dozens of missiles fired by 3 Assault Raptors causing a massive explosive decompression as the air inside the flightpod escaped. By now almost all the surviving pilots had already landed meaning that this newly reopened runway lay empty.

"Fleet is ready, jumping in 3…2…1"

**Ragnar Anchorage**

**Colonial Fleet Remnants under command Rear Admiral Adama**

Reappearing over the giant gas planet of Ragnar, the battle hardened Battlestar Galactica re-joined the battered and abused Colonial Fleet. Many ships were struggling to hold together after all the damage they had taken at the hands of the Cylons, and most importantly the Cylon Colony which the Colonials had classed it as a Kraken class Battlestation, no other name seemed to describe it as well as the Kraken.

The fleet was in that bad a condition that it would take thousands of man hours and metric tonnes of supplies to get them back to battle condition, nowhere near enough time, Adama thought to himself as he realised that it could just be minutes or hours before the Cylons jumped in to finish them off. Looking up at his crew, what scared Bill the most was just how shaken his ever present friend, Saul Tigh looked. He knew from experience that very little ever really got to Saul, in fact the only thing that did could be summed up in one word, Ellen. But this, this was so much more. Adama knew that during the course of battle, Saul had to make a decision and that many had died as a result, and it always sat heavily on you when those you killed were friends and allies. But if they were to survive the next hour alone, then he would need his XO to be by his side and not second guessing his decisions, but most of all, not falling back on the bottle.

"Dee, get me a secure line to all Colonial Fleet ships. Saul, I need status reports on how badly damaged we are and I need you to get a raptor to the civilian fleet and Virgon and have Tyrol and his deck crew start rearming and refuelling our birds. Priority on Argos Squadron, stick them in any functioning Viper that we've got. Gaeta set up a random jump to the middle of nowhere and transmit coordinates to the fleet, keep our engines spooled. I also need to know who we've got. And get a full Condition 1 CAP in the air right now!".

Pulling himself together and just resisting the urge to take a swig from his bottle to try and calm his nerves, Saul got to work.

"Admiral, Fleet is on Line 1. The Light Cruiser Scorpion's wireless arrays are currently down. Messages are being relayed via LTC (laser targeted communications)", Dee announced. Adama couldn't have been more proud of her than he was during the heat of battle, not only had she followed all her duties, she had anticipated time after time just what he would need.

Picking up the handset and turning it upside down so that he held it like a microphone, Adama spoke "…Each and everyone of you has just survived the deadliest battle in the history of the 12 colonies. I am saddened to say that it's not over. Prior to the start of the battle I received orders from Admiral Nagala that should we fail to stop the Cylon advance and defeat them then I was to gather what survivors I could and…retreat from the Colonies. His orders were clear…Humanity must survive. Like most of you, I want to fight. I want to turn this Battlestar around and ram it down the Cylons throats along with every nuke I can muster. But look at the Cylons and look at us, most of our ships are barely holding together, it'll be weeks before some are ready for a fight. We now have a choice, it's a decision that I cannot make alone. Do we continue to fight the Cylons here in the Colonies and quite possibly become an extinct species or do we follow Admiral Nagala's final orders and escape with what survivors we can and eventually, once we have regained our strength and have a superior tactical advantage, return to kick the Cylons the frak out of our homes?"

"MULTIPLE DRADIS CONTACTS!"

**Caprica**

**San Marino Hills, 118 Km north-north west of Caprica City, 482 km south-south east of Kelsin City**

Smoke and blood filled the man's lungs, and the smell of burnt flesh was thick in the air almost as if it was a warning to anybody daring to approach to turn back, only death lay here. Attempting to shift his weight as he struggled to remember how he got to this point he felt a piercingly sharp jagged piece of metal embed itself further into his back just below his shoulder. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he again shifted his weight, dragging his body off the metal chunk, feeling as if his nerves were on fire and then as fast as the agonising pain tore through his body, it had receded into a numbing throb, that was until he moved his arm at which point shooting pains would erupt from the wound. Opening his eyes as he stood up and surveying the wrecked Raptor that entombed him and the two obviously deceased fleet officers in the front, this man remembered.

He'd been at a memorial in Kelsin City celebrating the 40th anniversary of the end of the first Colonial-Cylon war and remembering the fallen. There had been close to a million Colonials at that memorial, it seemed that Kelsin City was the only place in the Colonies that showed the proper respect deserved of those who gave their lives in that deadly war. Then his satphone (satellite phone, Colonials version of a mobile/cell phone) had rang and straight away he knew it was bad news since he had set it for only the most important calls. Answering it he discovered the truth, Contact had been lost with Armistice Station and the Pavilion Satellite Grid, not just one satellite but them all. He knew then that there was a good chance the Colonies were under attack by the Cylons.

Then, making his way back to Caprica City and the Phoenix Lair, how he discovered Picon, Tauron and Scorpia had been lost and how the Cylons were now attacking Caprica. That's when the Raptor lost power as an immense nuclear explosion extremely close to Caprica knocked out the Raptor's electronics. Electronics whose military hardening did it little good as it started to plummet out of the sky. He remembered the frantic effort of the Pilot and Co-Pilot struggling to restart the dead Raptor as it crashed towards the 200 foot tall trees below, he just didn't have the heart to tell them that it was useless. Strong atmospheric winds combined with Caprica's gravitational pull and the continuing momentum and angular shape of the Raptor meant that the small bug shaped ship went into an insane somersault throwing immense G-forces at it's passengers. The seat belts cut into the man's skin as they struggled to keep him stable. Struggling to keep his eyes open he saw the green of the trees then the blue of the sky, then green and blue, all spinning faster than he could process. An immense screech rang out as the Raptor's welds threatened to come undone.

Shouting at the top of his voice, he commanded "Jettison the Tylium and drop the drones!" Amazingly the Co-Pilot heard him and struggling to move his arm, pulled a pin out of a lever at his side then pulled on the lever and started the jettison of the tylium (manual process, no electronics involved). Out of the side of the Raptor, aided by the rapid spin, Tylium spurted outward and away from the Raptor. Flung from one side of the Raptor to the other, a red first aid box struck the side of the man's head knocking him unconscious.

He never saw as the Raptor hit the very tops of the highest trees twisting it into a corkscrew, then ploughed it's way between the lightest branches at the top of the trees, sending splinters of wood and leaves cascading in it's wake before continuing into the much thicker branches of the neighbouring trees, under such a barrage the cockpit canopy stood little chance of survival and shattered in the faces of the pilot and co-pilot, burying them under hundreds of spears of wood and biological detritus, killing them instantly. Thankfully for the unconscious passenger the shattered canopy combined with impacting the side of a thick tree trunk sent the Raptor into a tail spin balancing out under a further impact so that the Raptor was now crashing rear first into the forested hills. Onwards it continued, the already dead engines clogging up with crushed branches and leaves, some of it burning on the still hot engines. Then bursting through the trees, the Raptor crashed into a clearing, digging itself into the mud and soil and creating a twenty foot furrow due to the decreased speed. It was all over with escaping gases, creaking and gouged metal and the remaining trails of Tylium igniting as the foliage trapped in the engines burnt and caught the fumes of the Tylium trails. However due to the lack of Tylium left in the tanks, it took less than three minutes for the flames to die down. Were it not for the solid design of the Raptor, a design not surpassed in 48 years, then things could have been a lot worse.

Pulling as hard as he could on the hatch's handle which refused to give, the lone survivor set off the explosive bolts located around the edges of the hatch, blowing it a good five foot away from the Raptor before it met part of the furrow dug by the Raptor. Stepping out on uneasy legs he looked all around him seeing the devastated sky of Caprica and the toxic clouds still hanging over Caprica City and Delphi.

Admiral Hillard, Fleet Advisor to the late President Adar, looked on in horror and wept for all that must have been lost.


	12. Chapter 12 Words of War

**Chapter 12 Words of War**

**Leonis**

**Lake Cassidy**

**Graystone Compound**

It would be strange to think that one of the biggest defences against the Cylons wasn't from a fleet, or a ship or even an entire army, granted all of these played a huge part in fighting back against the Cylons. No, one of the biggest defences was in a large house, 86 miles away from Luminere, on the tranquil shores of Lake Cassidy, or more specifically in the minds of 2 people. 2 people whose minds were elsewhere.

A dark haired girl stared in horror at an image of the newly arrived Cylon Battlestation (Colony) as it jumped into the deadly battle taking place above their heads. Almost instantly this Battlestation started opening fire on the Colonial fleet below it. In the space of just a couple of seconds what had seemed like an almost assured victory for the Colonials had suddenly seemed like nothing more than a pipe dream as the Colonial fleet started to fall against this new attack. Zoe knew instantly that they had lost. Then she felt the minds of the Colony's hybrids pressing the defensive net the Graystones had created for weaknesses.

"Dad, we've got to go..." Zoe said as she ripped her headband off revealing to her beleaguered eyes the presences of half a dozen armed guards watching over them, "…we can't hold off that many".

Taking slightly longer to take off his holoband as he refused to admit defeat, Daniel kept on trying to challenge these new Hybrids power, to destroy their Battlestation. Blood started to seep from his nose and bloodied tears slipped down his face as the Hybrids fought back, trying to force themselves into his mind. Tearing his own headband off as it became clear to him that he couldn't take them all on his own, Daniel revealed his bloodshot eyes to his daughter before saying, "We need the Intel…"

Zoe, ripping out the high capacity hard drives carrying over a million terabytes of data that they had managed to steal from the Basestars they had hijacked, replied "I'm on it…got it".

One of the Guards helping Daniel in his weakened state to his feet said as the data came in, "Atlantia's just rammed the Cylon Construct…it's still there"

Zoe and three other guards each carrying the boxes with the hard drives in quickly followed behind Daniel and the other three guards, rushing towards the awaiting Snapdragon. "Is the nuke set?" Zoe asked the Guards.

"Yes ma'am…the Basestars are moving…"

**Ragnar**

**BSG16**

**Battlestar Galactica**

"DRADIS CONTACTS!"

Snapping his head towards Gaeta, Admiral Adama asked "Cylon?" It was the last thing they needed, Adama knew they couldn't survive another battle so soon after Leonis.

Gaeta checking the contacts replied, "Negative. Contacts are colonial; I'm reading 534 in total including the Marinestars Hannibal and Annaxander. Codes are verified".

Colonel Tigh could only mutter "500? Frak me".

**Leonis**

**Luminere**

Luminere, the City of Enlightenment was a hive of activity, just not it's usual activity. Explosions littered the city, evidence of car crashes and rioting, people were crushed underfoot in the mad dash for survival, and screaming rent the air. But in the middle of all this chaos was a source of calm, a source of order and most of all a source of power as the military might of Leonis took charge. Thousands of troops were overseeing a mass evacuation of Civilians into deep underground bunkers prepared both during and shortly after the first war, defences were erected and multiple contingency plans were put into effect. This was an army that had been ever vigilant and ever prepared.

Wind whipping at his face, the cold seeming only to strengthen him, one man stood at the head of all of this preparation as his Raven class transport passed over the city. He was a middle aged man, with a slightly gaunt look to his face and strong cheek bones and a salt and pepper moustache, dressed in full army green combat gear with the emblem of a 5 star officer on his beret (a headset clamped above it) and his shoulders. The emblem was a black sword at the centre of the golden emblem of the 12 Colonies of Kobol (the Phoenix) and surrounded by a golden laurel on top of which were 5 silver bordered golden stars. The Field Marshall looked down upon Luminere perceiving the tumultuous events which were overtaking it's citizens, smoke drifted to his nostrils from one of the many fires raging across the city, only those that had been paying attention would know that many of these fires had been erected by the armed forces in order to limit the ability of the orbiting Basestars to see the movements of Luminere's population both visually and thermally.

He was disgusted to think that soon all this was to come to an end, he had listened to the fleet battle reports, he knew that the fleet had been driven from the battlefield and he knew that he was now deeply involved in the theatre of war, he could only hope he could prove a decisive enough leader. No, that's wrong…he could only hope that his people could survive what was to come.

"Sir, the Cylon fleet is almost in position to begin an orbital bombardment…" a young black Lieutenant said as he read through the reports coming through on his Tac-pad (tactical pad similar to a hardened military version of an iPad with 7" screen) before continuing "…based on their positions, they'll be hitting the arrays first as well as the military bases at Skye, Criolla and Badon Hill…those bases are evacuating as we speak. Intelligence has sent a plan of the most probable routes the Basestars will then take in order to bombard us…Luminere can expect to be hit within the next 3 minutes…"

Turning to look at the Lieutenant, the Field Marshall asked, "What's our ETA?"

"30 seconds, sir…the Basestars are firing…Batteries report that they are ready".

Taking stock off the situation and knowing his next command could mean the deaths of hundreds of millions, Field Marshall Montgomery gave his most damning order, "All batteries are to fire at will and all Arks are to begin locking down, those still out there…may the Gods watch over them".

The Raven Class transport started to descend towards it's destination, an industrial area to the south of the city that held the majority of Leonis' manufacturing and capability as the Lieutenant relayed the orders. Stepping down from the transport, Montgomery was met by a retinue of officers, all of them heavily armed, "Sir, we need to get you inside, we're expecting to be hit any moment now" a female Colonel shouted to Montgomery over the sound of the transport. Dust was kicked up by the transport's VTOL jets slightly obscuring the view as the Field Marshal followed them into an underground parking structure, all the while the Lieutenant was calling out to him the status of the bombardment and how a missile had been redirected to a location by the shores of Lake Cassidy.

As they walked down the ramp into the car park, soldiers and civilians were dragging dozens of military stamped crates into a cargo elevator which Montgomery and his people were approaching. Replying to the Lieutenant, Montgomery said, "We don't have anything in that area of interest, it's possible the Graystones might have something there". Checking his watch Montgomery said "Unless there is something of vital importance in those crates then I want everyone below ground right now, and I need you to patch me into the wireless networks, there's going to be a lot of scared people out there, they need to know that there are still people here fighting for them. They need to know that there is still hope".

Thomas nodded shouting to the people loading the crates to get into the lifts and typing away on his TacPad. "I've connected you to every transmitter and landline receiver. There's going to be dropouts as the nukes hit but…"

"Thank you", stepping into the cargo elevator as two dozen workers and soldiers squeezed in around him and the stacked crates, Field Marshal Montgomery activated his headset and spoke the speech that would echo across the planet even reaching Virgon and Ragnar through the few remaining arrays, "I have nothing to offer you except blood, toil, sweat and tears…" Montgomery barely spoke the words, he knew that they were the wrong words to start, they were honest but lacked power and even though right now honesty was what those under threat needed, they needed something far more important…humour. "I'm going to make a long speech because I've not had time to prepare a short one", all around him, civilians and soldiers alike that had fear written across their bodies looked up at this choice of words, some in disbelief and others with a smile. Then the words started to flow from Field Marshal Montgomery;

"This is Field Marshal Montgomery of the Royal Leonis Legion and I am here to tell you all that you are not alone. I also urge anyone not in a sheltered location whether it be an Ark, a bunker, a hospital or a school. We will come for you once the bombs have fallen…" The elevator started to descend.

"I am also saddened to inform you that during a deadly battle over Leonis in which our already battered fleets were heavily outnumbered and in some ways outclassed and despite inflicting monumental losses upon our Cylon enemy, far more than should have been possible, our brave and honourable fleets failed to defeat the Cylons. However in defeat they have proven indomitable and when they are able to return to our aid they will prove unbeatable. But that time is not now.

"It may seem that all hope is lost and that the end has finally come, but…we will endure. Even as the Cylons rain their missiles down on us, we will endure. Cut off from our fellow Colonists, WE WILL ENDURE!" Within the elevator the passengers seemed to be listening intently to Montgomery's every word as if the Gods were speaking through him.

"**I'm no politician. I won't lie to you, especially now. Right now we have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many long years of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our plan? I will say: It is to wage war, with all our might and with all the strength that the Gods can give us. To wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our plan. You ask, what is our goal? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be…" **deep within Ark 12 under Starling Park a mother and her two children felt buoyed by his words, their fear had lessened somewhat and surrounded as they were by hundreds of families just like them, they felt certain that Field Marshal Montgomery was telling the truth, victory was possible.

"…**And even though our fellow Colonies have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Cylons, we shall not flag or fail…"** his words carried to the soldiers manning the defenses and facing terror as dozens of nuclear missiles came coursing down towards Leonis, "…**We shall go on to the end…" **hundreds of missile and rail gun positions hastily set up around Luminere-as they had been set up across every town and city across Leonis-opened up on the incoming nuclear missiles. Missiles fired from their launchers locked on to the various Cylon missiles, however only a handful hit before the missiles were revealed to be capsules carrying a dozen smaller missiles (only half of which are nuclear, the rest just being high explosive) which were fired away on different trajectories.

"…**We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength on the ground…" **more and more colonial missiles were fired from their launchers at the nuclear missiles raining down upon them, these missiles were quickly joined by rail gun and anti-aircraft fire from positions throughout the city, the green and red tracer fire flickering across the sky, shattering into black clouds of shrapnel in the paths of as many nuclear missiles as was possible. Hundreds were destroyed before they could complete their objective to the relief of many soldiers who were laying their lives on the line.

"…**We shall defend our planet, whatever the cost may be…" **a nuclear missile that had avoided everything thrown detonated 500 meters above the ground killing almost everyone within a mile and flooding the surrounding areas with intense radiation. More missiles fell upon the city, the non-nuclear ones smashing into and destroying hundreds of skyscrapers and buildings, killing thousands. The nuclear ones mainly detonating in the air, killing millions.

"…**We shall force the Cylons onto our planet and we shall fight on the landing grounds…" **demolition experts and army engineers stood in bunkers listening to the Field Marshal as they prepared for the bombing to end and their jobs to begin.

"…**We shall fight on the planes and in the streets…" **tanks kicked up tons of soil as they used their tracks to bury themselves and soldiers hastily covered them up with this soil, grass and whatever foliage they could find, effectively hiding the armour from view unless you were up close.

"…**We shall fight in the hills and in our homes**…" an elderly couple cower with their friends in their dusty and dank cellar, floorboards creek and the entire room shakes as the missiles rain down on Leonis. The elderly husband cradles a pistol he has kept since the first war, ready to do his duty to his family. Montgomery's words carrying the fearful through this dark time.

"…**We shall fight them room to room if we have to…"** within Ark 22 a thunderous roar the result of a direct nuclear strike above the Ark shakes a vast chamber in which several hundred Colonists are seeking refuge from the holocaust going on above their heads. Suddenly, dozens of cracks fracture the room as the concrete and rock walls give way to the intense effects of the nuclear bomb, millions of tonnes of water, soil and rock crashing into the room burying the colonists and only being stopped by heavy blast doors slamming down and severing this chamber from the rest of the Ark.

As the lift doors opened more than a 1000 feet below ground Field Marshal Montgomery and his staff stepped out and passed through hundreds of survivors, all of them feeling a surge of pride going through them as Montgomery continued "…And we'll fight them with the butt ends of broken Absinthe bottles because that may bloody well be all we've got left!"

Aboard the orbiting Basestars, the various models stared at each other in horror as they listened to Montgomery's Patriotic words "…**We shall never surrender!"**

The crew of the Battlestar Galactica listened intently to every single word spoken by the Field Marshal, knowing that one day they would have to return **"****and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Colony or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our brothers and sisters surviving throughout the colonies would carry on the struggle, until, in the Gods good time, the exiled Colonial Fleet, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and our liberation like the heroes of old".**

"…**This is our darkest hour, the twilight of our days, but daylight is just around the corner, we just have to fight for it. We just have to prove our worth. And I know that we are all worthy of survival. I know this because we are not just Colonials. We are Leonosian!"** Tending to the wounded within the Sacred Paeon [Greek physician to the gods mythology] Hospital's bunker, Queen Alexandra cleaned out a harsh, bloodied gash in a young girl's thigh before wrapping it in gauze.

"…**We were the only Colony to truly put contingency plans into place should the Cylons ever return. While Caprica built businesses, we built bunkers. While Gemenon built temples, we built guns. While Libra created laws, we created armies. 7 percent of our annual GDP was annually put towards maintaining our contingencies in addition to our other defensive arrangements…"** Freshly resurrected John Cavil hung his head in his hands as the realisation of just what they were facing with Leonis hit him. Leonis had one of the largest economies, 7 percent was a long war.

"…**We will show the Cylons the true meaning of war and why you should never frak with Leonis and eventually, when we are most able, we will go to the aid of our fellow brothers and sisters and drive the Cylons from their worlds." **The miniscule amount of survivors on other Colonies already hit by the Cylons and with functioning interplanetary wireless receivers prayed that Montgomery was telling them the truth.

Arriving in the CIC of the bunker Field Marshal Montgomery approached the map table around which the rest of his staff were assembled, he continued **"…I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once more able to defend our Colony, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to do. That is the resolve of the Queen and the military. That is the will of the senate and the nation. So say we all!"**

In every Ark and Bunker and in every ship and home, every colonist that had been listening to Field Marshal Montgomery's speech buoyed on by his words and the conviction behind them echoed "So say we all!" with a new pride and strength filling them.

Aboard the resurrection ship, John Cavil, wrapped in a white bath robe muttered, "Fracking great, now we've got fanatics on our hands".

One ship, left for dead by the Cylons at Caprica made it's jump to Virgon.

And on one Warship orbiting Leonis, a blonde female overseeing the evacuation turned to the others on the bridge asking, "My God, do you recognise that speech?"

* * *

**Hope you all liked that chapter, it's mainly as a filler that I am using to establish just what the Fleet's actions have accomplished in buying time for not only the people of Leonis but the people of Virgon too. I'm loosely basing Leonis on Britain since in Caprica, Caprica seemed to be based on America and Tauron, a cross between Russia and Italy. Also I'm establishing the population of Leonis' capital city Luminere at 8.4 million, so similar to London.**

**I'm also 'resurrecting' Field Marshal Montgomery who was one of the main leaders behind allied victory in the second world war (not a cylon). I'm still undecided whether to have the ground war on Leonis as a number of spread out chapters or as a separate book altogether.**

**And yes, the speech was adapted from Churchill's "we shall fight them speech" and I felt this was necessary due to the fact that churchill's speech solidified Britain's resolve during the war and this speech needs to do the same. Below is the full Leonis speech.**

**Reviews are appreciated.**

I have nothing to offer you except blood, toil, sweat and tears

I'm going to make a long speech because I've not had time to prepare a short one.

I am here to tell you all that you are not alone. I also urge anyone not in a sheltered location whether it be an Ark, a bunker, a hospital or a school. We will come for you once the bombs have fallen.

I am also saddened to inform you that during a deadly battle over Leonis in which our already battered fleets were heavily outnumbered and in some ways outclassed and despite inflicting monumental losses upon our Cylon enemy, far more than should have been possible, our brave and honourable fleets failed to defeat the Cylons. However in defeat they have proven indomitable and when they are able to return to our aid they will prove unbeatable. But that time is not now.

It may seem that all hope is lost and that the end has finally come, but…we will endure.

Even as the Cylons rain their missiles down on us, we will endure.

Cut off from our fellow Colonists, we will endure

But that time is not now.

I'm no politician.

I won't lie to you, especially now.

Right now we have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind.

We have before us many long years of struggle and of suffering.

You ask, what is our plan?

I will say: It is to wage war, with all our might and with all the strength that the Gods can give us.

To wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime.

That is our plan.

You ask, what is our goal?

I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be."

And even though our fellow Colonies have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Cylons, we shall not flag or fail.

**We shall go on to the end. **

**We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength on the ground.**

**We shall defend our planet, whatever the cost may be.**

**We shall force the Cylons onto our planet and we shall fight on the landing grounds.**

**We shall fight on the planes and in the streets.**

**We shall fight in the hills and in our homes**

We shall fight them room to room if we have to.

And we'll fight them with the butt ends of broken Absinthe bottles because that may bloody well be all we've got left!

**We shall never surrender**

and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Colony or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our brothers and sisters surviving throughout the colonies would carry on the struggle, until, in the Gods good time, the exiled Colonial Fleet, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and our liberation like the heroes of old.

This is our darkest hour, the twilight of our days, but daylight is just around the corner, we just have to fight for it.

We just have to prove our worth.

And I know that we are all worthy of survival.

I know this because we are not just Colonials

We are Leonosian.

We were the only Colony to truly put contingency plans into place should the Cylons ever return. While Caprica built businesses, we built bunkers.

While Gemenon built temples, we built guns.

While Libra created laws, we created armies

We will show the Cylons the true meaning of war and why you should never frak with Leonis and eventually, when we are most able, we will go to the aid of our fellow brothers and sisters and drive the Cylons from their worlds.

I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once more able to defend our Colony, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to do. That is the resolve of the Queen and the military. That is the will of the senate and the nation.

So say we all.


	13. Chapter 13 An Odyssey Begins

**Chapter 13 An Odyssey Begins**

**Ragnar**

**Battlestar Galactica**

The CIC of the Battlestar Galactica was a hive of activity as dozens of officers and crewmembers struggled through a rising tide of work; damage control personnel dragged high capacity cables into place and replaced hard drives and consoles while communications officers redirected reports from not only the entire ship but the entire fleet whether it be civilian or military. Thankfully the problem of the civilian fleet's reports were lessened thanks to General Antonius having sufficiently organised this fleet by placing his own soldiers and marines on the civilian vessels in order to control that only important reports were transmitted and even then that they would be transmitted towards the Marinestars already present in the civilian fleet. If the messages were then deemed important enough they were then retransmitted to the Galactica. But still, there were more than 500 civilian ships in the fleet and that meant that there was still dozens of seemingly important messages coming through to the Galactica. In what would have seemed to an outside observer to be an island of calm in the centre of the CIC, Rear Admiral Adama glanced towards Petty Officer Dualla, a headset clamped tight over her black hair as she redirected the efforts of the fleet as per his commands. Adama was pleasantly surprised to see that despite everything today was throwing at not just humanity but at her, that she still managed to keep her head down and work through an increased workload. Pulling himself back to the moment Adama turned back towards the central console and the officers clustered around it, he got to work.

"…29 just jumped in. the Yarbrough fleet has managed to salvage 2 destroyers, a light cruiser, 3 heavies, and one Battlestar…the Crucible. That's in addition to 19 civilian vessels including a refinery and 2 mining vessels. Commander Benjamin has already sent them to the rendezvous point and is currently concentrating on getting another two Battlestars and 9 other ships operational…" Lieutenant Gaeta read from a report before Adama interrupted him.

"Have Raptor 129 jump back and tell Benjamin she has five minutes to get those ships out of there. We no longer have the time to get any more".

"Yes sir", Gaeta said as he moved off to transmit the order.

Turning to Tigh, Adama asked, "Any word on Nemea?"

Shaking his head Tigh replied, "Not from them or our Raptor. But a civie ship did report that Nemea was engaged in a mass evacuation as per your orders, we should be hearing back from tem any minute".

Before Adama had a chance to reply, Dee called out, "Admiral, Boomer has just set off from Colonial One with The President, Doctor Baltar and Mr Doral…Captain Lee Adama is escorting, eta is 2 minutes".

"Tell Apollo that as soon as the President's landed he is to take command of Vigilante Squadron". The Vigilantes were one of only 3 squadrons in the entire fleet that were still able to fly at anywhere near full strength. The other two being Challenger squadron out of the Battlestar Talon which thanks to jumping to Ragnar earlier than the rest of the fleet, had been given time to rearm and refuel most of its surviving Vipers, and the other was Argos Squadron which was now for the first time in the war flying as one squadron instead of its pilots being spread throughout the entire fleet. However only 23 Argonauts had survived this far and of them 8 were currently unable to fly mainly due to radiation sickness or injuries sustained. 23 pilots out of an original 102 in active service throughout all Colonial Space.

Lieutenant Gaeta came back to the plot table, "Admiral, Valkyrie reports that all known Centurions have been destroyed, marines are running a full sweep…"

Glancing at a much stained clock on the wall of the CIC, Admiral Adama interrupted, "Then we can't wait anymore. Lieutenant ensures all ships have received jump coordinates and have them begin jumping in assigned sections…"

"DRADIS CONTACTS!" a young petty officer called out, "It's Raptors 426 and 519…"

Dualla called out, "Sidewinder confirms visual…we're receiving audio".

Sharing a look with Saul, Adama told Dualla to open a channel.

"Galactica, Hammerhead. Nemea needs immediate assistance in recovery efforts…"

A sick feeling started to grow in Adama's stomach as he asked, "How many Basestars are we looking at?"

A second later Hammerhead replied, "None sir. You're not going to believe this but the Battlestar Valiant just jumped in. They're in bad shape sir and not everyone can be evacuated at the moment. Nemea is currently engaging in recovery operations."

"Valiant was at Caprica. Stone said all contact was lost and she was drifting…" Saul informed Adama, "…right now though, we could do with having all the Battlestars we can get hold of".

Nodding, Adama was about to quickly weigh up the options, not that there was many when he realised that they needed to at least try to recover the Mercury Class Battlestar, "Colonel, recall Vigilante and Argos squadron and get me jump coordinates for Virgon and have Defiant, Lancer and Pike break formation. All other ships are to continue with previously established jump".

Tigh started calling out orders to the various CIC personnel allowing for the fleet to break in two. Turning to Dualla, the Admiral said, "Send a message to Commander Stone that she is now in charge of the fleet…"

**Cylon Resurrection Ship Alpha**

Walking into the Resurrection ship's CIC, The number One, John Cavil was greeted by a sight that resembled the CIC's of the average Basestar. Moving to the central console, a white robe surrounding his wrinkly body, sticky from the amniotic fluid that had sustained this new body before he inhabited it, he called out, "How bad is it?"

Looking up from the pulsing red pool into which her hand was immersed providing her with all the information she needed, Natalie replied, "You heard Field Marshal Montgomery?"

"The whole fracking universe heard him! What I want to know is…"

Snapping her hand out of the pool, Natalie turned a stone cold glare towards him, "You want to know how bad it is? We've lost over a 180 Basestars since we attacked, and at least another 50 will need to be scrapped. On top of that we've lost two thirds of our Raiders, and more than ninety percent of our nuclear stockpile, and to make matters worse, we're seeing massive overloads and dropouts in our Resurrection ships due to the amount of incoming Cylons and those that do make it are using up all the bodies we have…"

Marcus Conoy offered a solution, "We're going to need to purge the buffers, and then box all the minds that we can as soon as we get them…"

Natalie turned to him, "You've got to be kidding me, that's death to thousands of our brothers and sisters…"

"I don't like it but if we don't, we could lose almost hundreds of thousands and the ability to resurrect. Our buffers can only take so much".

"But what you're suggesting…"

"Will ensure the survival of our race", moving towards Natalie, Marcus Conoy beseechingly said, "Sister, you know it's the only way…" his hands moving to cover hers, still wet from the conductive gel of the interface "…and there will still be a chance that we can save some of those we purge from the buffers. We need your vote".

Tears forming in her eyes, Natalie begged, "Please don't ask this of me…please, you're asking me to murder thousands of our people…"

Almost whispering to her, "To save millions".

Members of the other models, the command council of the Cylons were gathered around them, each model having agreed to the purge. They saw Natalie whisper something to Conoy before he stepped away, his palms stroking against the backs of her palms. Turning to them, Marcus announced, "We purge the buffers".

A five moved to the interface and began the purge effectively ending the live of 81000 Cylons skinjobs, centurions, raiders and hybrids alike, while Marcus turned to John saying, "There's something that you should know, as you know the Colony was rammed by Atlantia and took multiple nuclear detonations. Atlantia was destroyed and the Colony still stands but it's in bad shape. Roughly half of the internal superstructure was destroyed or damaged in some way although it doesn't look like that from outside and to make matters worse it's lost jump capability. It's going to be at least a day before we can jump it. Effectively the Colony's a sitting duck. If the Colonials attack with what they have right now then the Colony's fracked".

The statement hit John like a centurion's punch, "How many ships are guarding the Colony?"

"32 Basestars. The most seriously damaged ones. The rest are currently continuing Leonis' bombardment. Even with everything we have at our disposal, if the Colonists attack us right now with what we suspect they have left then…"

Hate bleeding from his eyes, Cavil asked, "Then?"

"Then I believe…we would lose. Our ships are just too badly damaged. On the surface many look fine but internally we're struggling to keep them from blowing up".

Leaning onto a chrome console, and glaring into the depths of the conductive fluid, Cavil heard an eight ask what Conoy suggested.

Measuring his words, Conoy replied "Time. We need time to repair the worst of the damage before we even consider deploying our ships…"

Smashing his hand into the pool of conductive liquid and shattering his knuckles in the process, Cavil, with rage seething into his words, forced out "No! We continue the attack. If we pause now, even for an hour then the Colonials will know how badly hurt we are, they'll be upon us like Vultures. But if we attack Virgon with everything we can, then we can keep the Colonials off balance. And since the Colonials like suicide attacks so much, if it comes to it we'll ram their ships with our most badly damaged Basestars. But whatever we do, we must, must destroy their Colonies. Once they're destroyed, then this fleet they have been assembling won't have a safe harbour and won't be able to sustain itself and the Colonists, the Colonists will become nothing more than a footnote in history".

"But…" an eight began.

"No buts! If we lose momentum then we lose the war and I am not losing this war".

**Virgon Orbit**

**Battlestar Galactica**

Jumping into a stable orbit over the primarily blue world that was Virgon, the Battestars Galactica and Defiant and their two escorts Lancer and Pike came under the immediate scrutiny of a number of orbital defensive installations. These defensive satellites, some measuring up to 500 cubic metres were now under manual control thanks to the late Admiral Nagala placing crewmembers on board once the effects of the Cylon backdoor virus had become known. All told there were 24 satellites around Virgon and 2 space stations. Satellites and space stations designed to work in conjunction with at least 3 Battlestar Groups. Messages went flying back and forth from Galactica and the satellites verifying that they were Colonial Fleet warships and for just a few fleeting moments the crews of the Satellites felt some measure of hope enter their lives as it looked like the Colonial Fleet was going to make their last stand here, but that was not to be as the Colonial warships moved to intercept a gigantic construct 1 light second from Virgon.

Travelling both slightly ahead and behind the small group of warships were the Vipers of Vigilante and Argos squadron which were being joined by more Vipers and Raptors from the Defiant. These Vipers started to form a third formation travelling slightly "above" the two Battlestars, this formation was however only half of the Defiant's Saber squadron since of those Vipers that had made it, a good proportion were currently down for repairs. In order to make up for this shortfall in Vipers, any Viper not from the Defiant which had taken refuge on her and was still capable of combat was filling in the gaps, temporarily making them part of Saber Squadron. Commanding Vigilante Squadron was Captain Lee 'Apollo' Adama, Argos Squadron was Major Alice 'Shadow' Fermi and commanding Saber Squadron was Captain Helena 'Panther' Phillips since the officer who should have been commanding Saber Squadron, Captain Cain, was instead flying with Argos Squadron ever since they had been reformed into the one unit.

Stood in the CIC of Galactica, Rear Admiral Adama watched the Dradis monitors as his small group of warships steadily approached the mighty Battlestation Nemea and the smaller collection of primarily civilian Tugs around it. Adama knew that these Tugs had been taken from the shipyards here at Virgon in order to help with the war effort and it was evident that some had already been put to work since 7 of the 9 Tugs were attached to mooring points on several civilian vessels which from their aspects appeared to be ships not designed with jumpdrives. Adama then saw the other two Tugs 75km away from Nemea anchoring themselves to a heavily damaged Mercury Class (same as Pegasus) Battlestar, the Valiant.

"Admiral, I've got a lot of comm traffic coming our way…" Dee called out, "…most of it is civilian, but I've also got secure connections from Virgon command and Nemea".

Turning to her, Admiral Adama asked, "Anything from Valiant?"

Double checking the wireless board and the information coming in from the Tugs attaching themselves to Valiant, Dee replied "Negative sir, at least not directly from Valiant. The Tug Shetland reports that the locations of the wireless hard points are currently craters. However Shetland is currently in contact with Valiant via LTC". (Laser Targeted Communications)

"Very well, have Shetland act as a relay with Valiant and ask them what the status is of the Valiant. And patch me in with Nemea and Virgon Command". As Dee got to work Adama dreaded what he was about to say to Virgon Command, but he knew it needed to be said.

"You're on Admiral" Dee notified him.

Picking up the handset, Adama inverted it wrapping the cord around the black plastic and spoke, "Virgon Command, this is Galactica Actual…"Adama saw as a woman he had met earlier who had seemed little more than a politician, now walked into the CIC displaying a level of strength he had never seen in a politician in a very long time. For just a moment it seemed to him that she may have once been a Viper Pilot but that thought soon passed as he couldn't really picture her in a jocks BDUs. Following closely behind her was her aide Billy, a disturbed looking Doctor Gaius Baltar and a man who had been very active on Galactica in recent months as she was being converted into a museum and who now should be able to help Adama know just what changes had been made to her, Aaron Doral. Nodding to the President and waving her over, Adama motioned for an ensign to set her up with a headset as he continued, "…I am sorry to tell you that the Cylons will soon turn their sights to Virgon. They're coming and…and we can't stop them. I hope you understand that if we stood any chance then we would stand and fight here but the truth is…" The truth was it was hard for Adama to admit the truth to the military leaders on Virgon and to his President, but he had to try, "…the truth us that we are heavily outnumbered and we gave our all at Leonis. Every single warship is struggling to hold together, if we stand here then the chances of us eventually winning this war will be slim". During all this President Roslin was looking into Adama's eyes seeing not a defeated man, but a man that was struggling to keep his head and do the right thing. She could easily tell that he would want nothing more than to stand here and do everything he could in order to stop the Cylons, even fighting hand to hand if he had to but she saw that he knew his responsibilities to the continued existence of humanity far outweighed his responsibilities to one colony, even if this was the last of the twelve colonies of man not hit by the Cylons.

She heard the reply come back from the military leadership of Virgon at the same time Adama did, "Galactica/Virgon. We…we understand. We aren't happy but we understand. Do you need any assistance?"

Adama had to admire the man, even though he knew that the Cylons were on the way and that the Colonial Fleet or at least it's remnants would have to abandon them to the Cylons nuclear fires, that he would still offer assistance to the Colonial Fleet. Replying, Adama said, "If you could provide us with any Tylium and ammunition, in particular nuclear missiles, I would be grateful. Anything that you think might be of use to us. And may I ask who it is I am speaking to".

It was a couple of seconds before the man replied, "General Boskow. I'm already sending you every fuel tanker we can spare. We're going to dispatch another two Viking class transports from Treblinka and Yanisk (two cities with military bases) with as much ammunition as we can spare but it's not going to be much. Maybe enough to rearm two, maybe three Battlestars but that's it. I don't want to do this, Gods we're going to need them ourselves…Frak it. Admiral I'm redirecting 3 Anacondas your way, transmitting codes now. There's about fifty doctors and med students on board them plus med supplies, I'm afraid that's about all I can give, resources are spread thinly already with the evacuations…"

It was at this point that Baltar after staring into thin air behind himself suddenly snapped his head round to face Adama and made it known that he wished to speak. "General, I have Doctor Baltar here…"

Baltar in his own chaotic way started to speak, "General, you need to secure the seed banks at Middlehaven university and any staff there. They're GM seeds, I'm no expert but I'm given to understand that if you need to start growing food in sparse conditions, maybe in a forest or cave, then these may be ideal".

"Who should I secure them for, us or the fleet?"

Baltar looked to his right, something which momentarily piqued Adama's interest until the Doctor started rubbing his neck as if he had a crick in it, which given his current appearance didn't really surprise the Admiral. Baltar then turned back to the plot table saying, "The Fleet. There is another cache somewhere in the Alps frozen in permafrost…I'm not sure of the location but it…"

The General interrupted him, "Doctor, I've found the files. Is it called Eden?"

"YES, yes!" Baltar suddenly exclaimed.

"Admiral, I'm redirecting a Boa to secure the seeds at Middlehaven. The files say they're in shipping containers...I'll have them with you within ten minutes". A boa was a large military transport with limited jump capabilities.

Nodding, Adama replied "Thank you General, I know it's a lot to ask for". Looking at Baltar, Adama gave a brief nod of thanks.

"Admiral…" General Boskow started "When do you think you will be able to return?"

It was a question that Adama would have rather avoided but he knew he had to answer it if only to reassure those with Boskow right then, "To be honest, I don't know. It's likely going to be months, maybe…maybe years. We're going to need a superior tactical advantage WHEN we return since we're likely to be outnumbered. But know this General, the Cylons aren't invincible. If we fight as we have done with what we have left, then we will win this war. We're just too badly damaged right now".

It was a couple of seconds before Boskow replied, "I understand, I really do. We'll just have to work out a way in order to survive until you do return. With any luck we'll be able to maintain relations with Leonis".

"You'll find a way", Adama replied and he knew they would, "If you'll excuse me, I'll put you through to…" looking at Laura Roslin, the former school teacher turned secretary of education and now, "…the President".

Adama gestured for Dee to privatise the comm as he then got in touch with Valiant via Shetland. Since Valliant's wireless was down, all contact was conducted through text messages sent via Lasers on Shetland and Valiant as well as receiving plates. "Dee, how badly damaged is Valiant?"

Handing Adama the data she had only just received from Shetland, Dee replied "It's bad sir, they've lost their primary generator and the secondary is on its last legs, they're down to just a quarter of their jump coils. They've got damage throughout the ship and…"

Interrupting her as he himself read through the report, Adama asked "Are any of their landing bays functioning? I want Perry over here, I could do with his help". Admiral Perry was a brilliant commander that had done the best he could at Caprica with what he had. Adama knew that it could have been a lot worse for the rest of the fleet if Perry hadn't fought the way he did.

A pained expression came to Dee's face as she replied, "The Lower Starboard Flightdeck is currently the only one that's undamaged but Admiral Perry is currently in a critical condition, sir. The Valliant's acting CMO reports that he's not likely to make it. At the moment they're trying to get him to the flightdeck but there's a lot of damage in between them…"

"DRADIS CONTACTS!" Gaeta called out, "Reading 3 Cylon Raiders at 210 krypter…" as Gaeta called out their positions, positions that were scattered across local space, Adama knew this for what it was, a recon run. The Cylons were just testing the water, checking to make sure there wasn't another virus in effect as there had been at Leonis. Evidently there wasn't as they started jumping out, but what there was, was a network of defensive satellites, one of which managed to destroy a raider before it jumped.

Adama got to work straight away, "Colonel, get Nemea to pick up Valiant right now, we don't have time anymore and get our Vipers in defensive positions around the fleet…" picking up the phone which was still connected to General Boskow, "…General we're out of time. I'm sorry".

Almost straight away thousands of Raiders jumped in right on top of the satellites and the fleet launching tens of thousands of missiles at them before jumping out. Galactica started chewing out as much flak as she could as did every satellite and ship in the area, destroying as many of the missiles as they could, but it wasn't enough. Galactica started to tremble under the hits as small conventional missiles struck her flank. Gripping the plot table, Adama saw a handful of satellites wink out of existence as a number of nuclear missiles struck them, he was only thankful that the nukes aimed at his own ships had been taken care of.

A handful of seconds later the dradis monitors flashed as thousands of Raiders jumped in again, but this time they were in a large centralised formation 10 km from the Galactica and her small fleet. This time the Raiders were joined by the sharp profiles of 40 Cylon Basestars. Due to the position they had jumped in at, the Basestars were just outside of the surviving Satellites effective weapons range. Seeing the Raiders start their own approach towards his own ships, Adama ordered, "Have Vigilante and Argos squadrons move in, but they're to stay within our cover, all others are to stay in their current positions and keep our broadsides facing the enemy".

**Argos Squadron**

Cain's blood was pumping as he stayed with his squadron on approach to the newly arrived Cylon Raiders. Using what time he had left, Cain double checked his instruments and his position relative to both his wingman Lt. John 'Thumper' McCann and his squadron. As the kilometres ticked down to contact and he took in the thousands of Raiders facing him, walls of flak overshot his Viper and started hitting the Raiders, walls of flak fired from the surviving satellites and Galactica's small group. It did seem, if only for a moment that enough Raiders would be taken out before he even hit them but that notion was short-lived.

"_Alright Argonauts, lets show these frackers why we're the best. Keep your bursts short and watch your fuel, we're on a budget here people" _his CAG Major Simon 'Buzzer' Thurlow said over the wireless.

When only one Kilometre separated them, Phoenix opened fire as did every member of both Argos and Vigilante Squadron, their fire impacting the first ranks of the Raiders. The vibrations of the rounds leaving his Viper in short sharp bursts reverberated through Cain reassuring him that his Viper, a Viper that was ancient by today's standards, was working as it should. Then the Raiders started firing their own missiles towards the Vipers. Cain just caught sight on his dradis as the twelve Raptors that had been holding steady just behind dropped back a few hundred metres, some of them firing missiles just before they did and all of them activating their electronic warfare suites disrupting the paths of roughly a quarter of the Cylons missiles. Although a quarter doesn't sound like much, a lot had been learnt since the start of the war two hours ago when the colonials were lucky enough to just knock out a tenth.

Then in no time at all the Raiders were upon Vigilante squadron which was slightly ahead of Argos. As part of the Raider formation started to collapse in upon Vigilante, Buzzer ordered _"All Vipers break starboard. BREAK, BREAK, BREAK!"_

Pulling hard on his stick, Phoenix joined the rest of his squadron in turning away from the Raiders still heading towards them and into the rear of the Raiders which were collapsing onto Vigilante squadron. It was a risky manoeuvre that left Argos' flanks open to attack but if executed properly…

"_Choose your targets and…FIRE!" _ In short bursts Phoenix started firing on the Raiders that were attacking the Vigilante Vipers, risking hitting friendly forces but successfully managing to take out or damage four Raiders. Already Vigilantes formation was starting to break down as its pilots broke up into its two man teams.

"_FLIP, FLIP, FLIP!" _Upon receipt of those orders, every Argonaut, Phoenix included fired their manoeuvring jets, snapping their Vipers into a reverse heading and bringing their guns to bear upon the Raiders which had turned to follow them into Vigilantes clash with their own Raiders. Phoenix didn't need any notification in order to fire his own guns at these Raiders, streaks of golden rounds flashing towards the chrome hulls of his enemy and joining the firing of the rest of his squadron. As a Raider was split down it's red line and dozens of others started to follow suit right across the formation, Cain realised that the manoeuvre had been executed perfectly. Raiders which had managed to pull out of the lines of fire were forced into the tracks of other Raiders, either scraping along their hulls or smashing them in two. The entire Raider formation seemed to break down as it struggled around this front rank and Argos squadron was quick to pounce as they dived into their own chaotic dances with the Raiders, it was only now that Argos squadron broke down into wings and wingmates.

Across the battlefield Raiders and Basestars, Basestars which had been heavily damaged at Leonis and were just being held together, jumped on top of the defensive satellites. The Raiders fired everything they could at the Satellites which in return focused their might upon the Basestars. But the Basestars weren't the problem in this battle, as the Satellites fired hundreds of missiles at them, it was the Raiders focusing their fire on specific parts of each station and joining that fire with hundreds of missiles that was the problem. Hull plating started to overheat and fracture from the amount of fire lacing it and then seemed to crumble under such might. As the first of the Basestars started to explode, the Raiders damage to the stations seemed like it was complete as the underlying structures of the stations were revealed, it was this that the Raiders were after as they launched dozens of nuclear missiles at it before jumping out.

From such a close range and against so many missiles the satellites stood little chance and the crews on board were hoping that the armoured plating would keep out the worst of the damage, not realising that there were now holes in this protection until it was too late. Millions of tonnes worth of satellites disappeared in glowing clouds of energy and jagged chunks of shrapnel. With them went the Galactica's small group's cover as well as Leonis second to last line of defence.

By now the crew of Nemea had managed to get the station in line with the damaged Battlestar Valiant and were beginning to close upon this once mighty warship, whilst at the same time Galactica, Defiant and their two support ships covered Nemea from 'above'. It was only now that the threat of the satellites had been taken care of that the waiting Basestars started their advance towards this group. Finally Adama could bring in his big guns, "Colonel, have all ships target the closest Basestars and open fire. And get Nemea to get their arses moving, we can't hold off this many ships".

Colonel Tigh got to work straight away calling out orders to the various stations and took note of the marine guard around the CIC being reinforced, something that allowed him to see that some of the marines weren't from Galactica and were sporting some injuries. "Gaeta, who are those marines?" Tigh pointed out the three that had caught his attention.

Turning away from his duties to look at them Gaeta replied, "Survivors we picked up at Leonis, Colonel. Mathias wanted veterans guarding the CIC". It was strange to Saul to hear that there were already veterans in the rank and file fleet, but then he realised that if you'd managed to survive this long in this new war, even if it was two hours, then you could call yourself a veteran. But he also realised that same reasoning that seemed to work with the fleet didn't exactly cover the marines, instead with the marines it was only those that had fought the Cylons that could be ranked as veterans, something that none of Galactica's or BSG16's marines had done. Turning back to his duties calling out orders that realigned Galactica's point defences onto paths that would destroy the missiles that were now being fired from the Basestars, Tigh never noticed as Aaron Doral silently moved around the plot table.

One person did notice though. One person who had seen that face before.

This person saw Doral move to stand just behind a Junior Lieutenant, his hands in a perfect position, Doral snapped his right hand forward, ripping the lieutenant's sidearm out of it's holster while at the same time his left arm went around the lieutenant's body pulling him tight against his own so as to protect his torso from any bullets that may come from the front. As Doral brought the sidearm up to bear upon a now startled Admiral Adama who was stood across the plot table from Doral, Colonel Tigh stood next to Adama attempted to push him to the ground but it was to be a pointless action, there just wasn't the time, Adama would die.

Doral's thumb flipped the safety off with his thumb and started to squeeze the trigger in one fluid movement as the FN-57 was pulled into alignment with Adama's forehead as a sharp retort split the CIC, bone and brain matter exploding onto the plot table and covering Tigh's face.

Adama stood motionless as blood dripped down from his forehead seeing the carcass of Aaron Doral slump to the ground pulling the Lieutenant down with him. Behind Doral at the entrance to the CIC, lowering the now smoking barrel of his MGAT to the ground as half a dozen weapons were brought to align on him, Staff Sergeant Lucas Monroe, a marine recently arrived from the Battlestar Atlantia was relieved to hear Adama order, "Lower your weapons!" Immediately upon hearing the order and seeing that it wasn't Monroe that was the threat, the Marines lowered their weapons, two moving forward to help the Lieutenant disentangle himself from Doral's now almost totally headless corpse, the Lieutenant covered in blood and visibly shaking, partly with relief and partly with disgust. Adama shared a deep look with Monroe, his blue eyes melding into Monroe's brown, and a nod was shared before Adama returned to controlling the space battle and Monroe returned to his post at the main entrance to the CIC, Mathias patting him on his back.

**Vigilante Squadron**

Pulling her Viper into a sharp turn and keeping on Captain George 'Headcase' Hodge's wing, Starbuck fired a quick burst into the path of a passing Raider, scoring a line of hit's down it's port wing and causing a small explosion which tore it off. There wasn't time for Starbuck to slow down which meant that she was forced to pass through the flailing guts of the Raider which splattered against the hull of her MK-II. Headcase kept his flying steady as he slipped into a perfect killing spot on a Raider in front of him squeezing his trigger and destroying the Raiders engines before both he and Starbuck dived 'down' and past the tumbling wreckage. This allowed Starbuck to overtake Headcase so that he was now covering her wing.

Seeing a viper in trouble as two Raiders curved around and onto it's tail, Starbuck saw a chance and decided to take it, rotating her viper around it's horizontal axis and pulling up on her stick, she fired three bursts of rounds into the paths of the Raiders, clipping the one raider and destroying the rear raider. Jerking her stick to the left, Starbuck just managed to avoid a passing Viper flown by Apollo which tore past her after destroying the first Raider. She didn't get a chance to take a breath as she wanted to as a Raider threw itself into her path firing it's cannons as it did so. Reacting instantly, Starbuck returned fire and pulled hard on her stick, adding in a hard burst from her manoeuvring thrusters in order to pull herself out of the line of fire and ordering, "Headcase, BREAK BREAK, BREAK!". Her Viper rotated out of the line of fire and her own shots connected with the Raider as the Raiders flashing rounds slipped by her cockpit just inches from her head, but these same shots continued onwards hitting a Viper that was lacked in it's own battle and splitting it's rear port engine throwing the Viper into a chaotic spin before the Pilot got it back under control just in time to avoid the killing shots of a Raider that had kept hard to it.

**Battlestar Galactica, CIC**

The Dradis flashed as hundreds of Raiders jumped on top of Galactica, Defiant, Nemea and the small group of ships supporting them at the same time that hundreds of missiles were pouring towards their flanks. Directing the Squadrons he had kept in reserve towards these newcomers, and redirecting the fire of some of his point defences, Adama watched as both the Raiders and some Vipers started disappearing from the Dradis monitors. His focus on the Raiders and Vipers, Adama didn't see a Raptor 20km away jump out.

By now the Basestars were close enough that Galactica and her group were being repeatedly hammered by hundreds of conventional missiles, which while being deadly, Adama knew the Galactica and the Defiant could handle for now. The ship that couldn't handle it he well knew was the Battlestar Valiant which the Cylons were hammering with an almost countless number of conventional missiles. Less than three kilometres separated Valiant from relative safety as Nemea closed on her, but it was three kilometres he wasn't sure she would make.

All of a sudden Gaeta called out "Radiological Alarm! Ten…no fifteen nukes inbound on Valiant",

"Redirect Saber Squadron's green wing towards those missiles…" Adama ordered.

Calculating the distances as Gaeta carried out the orders, Tigh said, "They won't make it, they're too far off".

Adama knew they were, he also knew that by the time his point defences had gotten a firing solution on these missiles and fired that it would be too late. The only way to stop them would be if either Valiant or the tugs locked to her could fire at the missiles, but that was impossible. Valiant didn't have any working guns and the Tugs were defenceless, they were to put it bluntly, fracked.

As the missiles closed to within 7 kilometres of Valiant the Dradis burst to life with a new contact just 1 kilometre above Valiant-spitting distance in space terms. Adama nearly choked as he read the name of this new contact even as Gaeta called out, "New contact, Medstar Panacea".

As soon as the Medstar Panacea jumped in, their location perfect thanks to a Raptor having delivered to them the intel they needed, her point defences, one of the only things to have any ammunition, opened up on the nuclear missiles swatting a great many from existence. Yet still two made it through to strike against Panacea's heavily armoured hull, the blinding flashes lighting up space and shaking the Medstar to her very core before a calm seemed to descend upon the Galactica-like ship as the explosions died down. On board her, quickly organised DC teams, many of whom had just had their commissions reactivated at the Boneyards, quickly got to work shutting down and repairing areas that had been damaged by the nuclear impacts and putting out any fires.

Adama, a man who it was hard to shock, stood in shock yet again that day as he took in the fact that a ship that had faced certain destruction from fifteen nuclear missiles had been saved by a strange turn of fate in the form of the Medstar Panacea. He was shook from that shock as Galactica shook under the assault of the thirty five remaining Basestars.

**Argos/Vigilante Squadrons**

Jinking his Viper away from a twisting Raider, Phoenix fed a small amount of shots into a passing sickle shaped craft as he continued his turn in order to keep with his wingmate. All around him was a chaotic mass of tumbling Raiders and Vipers. Thumpers engines flared brightly as he forced his Viper to speed up and then flipped into a ninety degree angle in order to chase down a Raider. As he went to follow, Cain threw his Viper into a starboard turn and swept past the nose of a Raptor that was risking the battlefield in order to rescue an ejected pilot, he silently nodded his appreciation of the pilot as he continued after Thumper, destroying a Raider that had managed to pull in behind him.

On board the Raptor, Boomer was in top form as she brought the ship next to a drifting pilot, her new ECO, Crashdown throwing open the hatch in order to drag the pilot in and free of his chair before closing the hatch. As soon as she felt the vibration of the hatch closing, Boomer launched the Raptor away from this chaotic dance with death that the Vipers and Raiders were fighting, sometimes having to dance around them as she struggled to a new safer location. It could easily be argued that the job of an SAR Raptor was the hardest in the fleet.

Passing in front of Boomer, Captain Lee 'Apollo' Adama cleared a safe path for Boomer, his heartbeat racing from the adrenaline coursing through his veins keeping him alert to passing Raiders and missiles. Once it was clear that they were clear, Apollo pulled up and over the Raptor and dived back into the chaotic battle just in time to see the Viper of Argos CAG Major Simon 'Buzzer' Thurlow get pounced upon by five Raiders coming from different directions. Pulling left then right and rolling upwards Buzzer was able to avoid the fire of three of them while destroying a fourth before Lee was able to lend his assistance clipping one of them with a line of rounds then destroying two others, but it was an unseen Raider that was Buzzer's downfall as it struck from above, it's shots cratering the nose of Buzzer's Viper before it swept past him. As Apollo turned to pursue he was glad to see Buzzer eject from the wreckage of the Viper.

Yet again that day Phoenix found himself as the most senior officer of the squadron he was in as he discovered from Defiant's wireless operator. Firing his guns at a Raider that had almost ended his captaincy as it closed on him, the thick red of it's guts slapped against his screen as he continued on to close on another Raider. He was now more aware than ever that he was running out of ammunition just as he knew many in Argos Squadron would be. "Argonauts/Phoenix. Roll Call people" this was the command for every surviving Argonaut to let him know they were still alive.

Immediately they started calling in; _Thumper, Beetle, Dinger, Spiceman, Scary , Silverstep , Singer_. That was it. That's all that had managed to survive Cain discovered much to his disappointment as he turned to continue his attack on a passing Raider.

Firing everything he could at a Raider that was intent on his death, Apollo was momentarily blinded by a bright flash as a nuclear missile flared against Pike's hull. Pulling his Viper to the right out of instinct as he was blinded and hopefully out of the Raiders line of fire, Apollo's Viper continued onwards. Then flipped end over end as a Raider smashed against his engines, the Raider splitting in two, and safeties in the Viper's engines thankfully shutting them down.

**Galactica CIC**

"Nemea has Valiant! Her doors are shut" Gaeta called over to Colonel Tigh. Hearing this Adama ordered Nemea to jump and for the recall of all Vipers. They had to get out of here right now.

**Argos/Vigilante Squadron**

"…_combat landings authorised"._

Hearing these orders over the wireless Phoenix ordered his squadron to pull back to Galactica as he himself struggled free of a dance he was engaged in with two Raiders, one behind and the other in front. Jerking to starboard he roared away from them as his engines consumed what must be by now Tylium fumes.

As she cleared over and then under three deadly Raiders, Starbuck hit them with everything she had, before she chased down two missiles that one had fired at a drifting and heavily damaged Viper that she knew was Apollo's. Squeezing her trigger, her rounds connected with them whilst se missed the voice on her wireless. Steadying out Starbuck shouted "What?"

The gravelly voice of Adama answered "_What do you hear Starbuck?"_

A mad glee descended over her causing Kara to burst out laughing as her hull chimed under the sounds of thousands of miniscule bits of debris impacting off of it, "Nothing but the rain, sir".

"_Then grab your gun and bring in the cat!"_

"Roger that, Sir"

For once Starbuck knew what to do as the Vipers of Galactica tore past her and towards the safety of the small fleet. Accelerating past Apollo and flipping over much to Apollo's concern as he saw Starbuck start accelerating towards him, Starbuck sped towards him linking them via their guns before her own thrust carried them towards Galactica's waiting deck.

As he passed Starbuck, Phoenix knew it was manoeuvres like them that were the reason why she was one of the best pilots in the colonies. With them being the last pilots to come crashing back to Galactica's deck, the small group started jumping out leaving just Galactica and the Cylons.

Activating the wireless, Adama said "Virgon, we will return. I promise you, just hold on". Turning to Tigh he ordered the jump.

**Cylon Command Basestar, Virgon**

Seeing the last significant threat jump out of the battlefield was a disappointment to Cavil, he wanted to end Adama here, today. Instead he would have to settle for ending Virgon, which given the time they had to prepare would be easier said than done. Virgon would need Centurions even after the nukes had fallen, it would be a long, drawn out war, but it would be winnable. At least that's what he told himself. Turning to his brothers and sisters, John Cavil gave the order to commence Virgon's bombardment.

It would be another half hour before it would be complete as millions of colonials vanished in flashes of bright white light before the nuclear missiles.

Going unseen by both the Cylons and the Colonials in her hidden position, and with her mission complete after that half hour was over, Odyssey departed Colonial space, chasing after the Colonial fleet and her own fleet. A long, dangerous journey was ahead.

**Hope you liked that chapter. Now begins season 1. In this chapter I tried to show that the Cylons were as close to defeat as the Colonials and that in this fanfic, if Adama had stayed and fought then it was possible that he could have won. Reviews are appreciated.**


	14. Chapter 14 Calm That Comes With Death

**Chapter 14: The Calm That Comes With Death**

**Fleet Ships: 643 both active and decommissioned (Due to Graystones fleet)**

**Fleet population: 762,984**

**Battlestar Galactica, Port Flight Pod, Exodus Jump number 1**

Exhaustion seemed to seep out of Captain Cain as his Viper was wheeled off the port flight pod's primary lift by a tractor and into the Galactica's only functioning hanger. It was only now that it was finally starting to seep in that this was it, the colonies were over. The war had been lost. It didn't matter that he was still alive or that there were hundreds of thousands of civilians still alive on hundreds of vessels in the colonial fleet, the fact was that they no longer had homes to go back to, the Cylons had taken that from them, they were now, all of them refugees. The idea sickened Cain, he'd never felt that he had a proper home on the Colonies, true he did maintain a crummy apartment on Leonis, but he mainly lived on Battlestars, had done for years. But it was the thought that he would never be able to set foot on Leonis again that really got to him.

He had to get out of the cockpit, he felt like he couldn't breathe, he just needed time to think. Sliding the canopy open and throwing his helmet behind him and onto the seat, Cain jumped down onto the deck while young deckhand whose dreams of becoming a dentist had now been smashed handed him a clipboard in order to sign back the Viper. Cain barely noticed the soot marking her white skin as he signed his name, but he did notice the dozens of pilots getting free from their cockpits, some smashing their helmets against walls, others punching their vipers, a few throwing up their guts as radiation sickness overtook them and a lot of them just collapsing where they stood as tears overtook them.

Just the sight of the dejected pilots throwing up made Cain flinch as he quickly checked a radiation warning badge clipped onto his uniform which was more than halfway covered in black blotches. Cain had been wearing the same badge since the start of the war three hours ago and he could only be thankful that it wasn't totally black which he knew many pilots badges were, but still this was bad. Climbing onto the wing of his Viper, Cain looked around at the numerous pilots in the hanger deck and called out in as loud a voice as he could muster, "Pilots, listen up!" the various pilots and even the deck crews looked in his direction, "I want you all to check your Radiation Disks, if you see any indication that you have taken a dose of radiation then you are to start self-medication of anti-rad meds. This goes especially for Argos Squadron. Any pilot whose disk is over three quarters black is to report to the life station and is grounded unless you receive a direct order from command". Cain didn't know what else to say so started to step down from his Viper as seemingly every pilot started checking themselves and most of them then started injecting themselves with the anti-radiation meds they all carried.

**Battlestar Galactica, CIC**

Rear Admiral William Adama stood across the plot table from President Laura Roslin, both of them staring into the eyes of the other conveying their untold feelings at having to abandon the colonies to their fate in order to ensure humanity as a species could carry on. As the highest ranking officer of the colonial fleet other than Admiral Perry who in his current state was unable to take command, Admiral Adama felt the responsibility of abandoning the colonies more than anyone in the fleet. He also knew that in order to survive the coming journey, a journey that would hopefully lead the survivors to a habitable planet, any habitable planet and that he would have to at least have to seem strong to those around him. If not then the fleet as a whole would break down.

Nodding to the President, he turned to the officers around him seeing as Colonel Tigh slipped a hip flask that was no doubt empty by now into his boot. Choosing to ignore this Adama said, "Colonel I need status reports on the entire fleet and a new set of jump coordinates plotted and distributed to the rest of the fleet. We jump in ten minutes and have Talon and whoever else has a squadron available set a Cap around the fleet". Tigh nodded and started calling out orders to the various officers. Turning back to the President, Admiral Adama said, "We need to talk".

Nodding, President Roslin answered, "Yes, we do". Adama motioned for President Roslin to follow him into a nearby conference room, her two Praetorian Guard (colonial secret service) following them and taking up position at the conference room while the door was shut on the two most powerful people in the newly formed Colonial Fleet.

Moving to a nearby table Adama bent over and picked a smashed glass jug off the floor placing it on the table and followed by picking up two cups, one of which had lost it's handle. Filling up the one without the handle with coffee from an urn, Adama asked "Coffee?"

From behind him, her hands resting on one of the back of a chair, Roslin replied "Please, sugar if you have any".

Filling the other cup and adding 2 lumps that lay on the table, most of the rest lying scattered on the ground, Adama turned and handed it to her. "Thank you" the President replied taking it as Adama walked around the collection of joined tables and slumped down in a chair. Sitting down in her own, Laura removed her glasses unwilling to break the silence that had descended upon the room.

Staring into his mug of coffee as if all the answers to his, the colonials predicament were in it, Adama mustered what strength he could and broke the silence, "I'm sorry. You have to understand that we…the colonial fleet are just too badly damaged to go on fighting for the colonies. We had to withdraw. If we…if we stood any…"

Laura heard the defeat in his voice, a defeat that she knew he would never reveal to those under his command and it caught her off guard, here was a man who barely knew her, willing to let her see him like this. "I know. And Admiral, I also know that you did everything that you could and more than I could have asked for. So the question is where do we go from here?"

Seeming to gain some measure of strength back, Adama replied "We can't remain near the colonies, pretty soon the Cylons are going to come looking for us. Right now we have to run, put as much space between us and the colonies. Once I deem that we're either far enough away from either the colonies or the Cylons, then we start looking for a new home".

Cradling her cup in her hands, President Roslin nodding said "And I thought we might have a problem with each other. Can we do it?"

"We don't have a choice. If it's a supply issue you're worried about then I don't know yet but what I do know is that Admiral Nagala filled up a lot of the ships out there with supplies, though I doubt he had time to do an inventory. The chances are we won't have everything we need but we will have to find some way to make do".

After taking a sip of the coffee, Roslin said "Then that's something we will have to do over the next few days. What about your ships? Can they be repaired?"

His thumb rubbing over the cracked handle of his cup as he calculated each ship Adama answered, "Hopefully. It all depends on the reports I get, but we will do everything in our power to get them to their former glory. Right now the Battlestars Galactica, Defiant, Talon and maybe…maybe Valkyrie are as close to battle ready as any ship in the fleet. In order to get ship numbers up I'm going to concentrate on getting the decommissioned ships operational and then transfer over the crews from the damaged ships", Adama was still working out the figures since he was currently having to do everything on the fly.

"It sounds like a plan".

Turning to look her in the face, Admiral Adama motioned "You no doubt know that Admiral Nagala declared a state of martial law", it wasn't a question so Roslin let him continue, "its something he would have only done in exceptional circumstances…"

Nodding, Laura said "And these are exceptional circumstances".

"But still, I knew Nagala and like myself he didn't like martial law. As such I'm going to restore control to the civilian government on one condition".

Suspecting what that one condition was, Laura asked "And that condition?"

"You and eventually when a new quorum is elected deal with the civilian matters while I and the surviving fleet commanders deal with military matters. This is none negotiable".

Roslin wasn't happy with this, but then she realised that where they were right now was partly thanks to the defence cuts instituted by the government, defence cuts which had forced the military to accept networks that were susceptible to the Cylons, defence cuts which she had backed. With reluctance Roslin nodded, "You have a deal Admiral".

Emptying the last of the coffee from his mug, Adama stood up as did the President, both taking their cups to the table. Turning to her, Admiral Adama said "We have one last problem". Laura's eyebrows rose until Adama continued, "The Graystones".

**Medstar Panacea CIC**

Panacea, a former Columbia-II class Battlestar was eerily similar to the Battlestar Galactica looks-wise, although Panacea like all ships of her class was 100 metres longer and slightly wider and taller than the original Columbia class. The main differences however were below the skin; the jumpdrive was more powerful, generators also more powerful and there were more disaster pods (these are self maintained areas like the med bay which in the event of the ship being destroyed stand a good chance of floating around in the debris until they were picked up just like lifeboats) in addition to a whole host of smaller changes. With Panacea being reclassed as a Medstar came another bout of changes in which certain areas were changed to allow for more substantial medical facilities turning the Battlestar into a self-contained hospital able to care for up to 2000 patients rivalling any anywhere in the colonies and then she was decommissioned after the late President Adar's first bout of defence cuts, after all what was the point of her, the Colonies weren't at war despite their only being an armistice with the Cylons and not a full peace. Now though, for the first time in her existence she was being used for what she was created.

Walking from the docked Snapdragon and into the CIC, a CIC that was the spitting double of Galactica's, Daniel Graystone felt a dejected sense of loss at having failed the colonies despite working for more than fifty years to stop the Cylons from harming humanity. By his side was his daughter Zoe, herself a creation by and of his long deceased biological daughter also called Zoe (Graystones when in each others presence so as not to confuse each other call original Zoe, Eve).

Approaching his still striking blonde wife Amanda, both husband and wife held each other as the pain of failing was shared. They all knew there was a chance that they might not succeed in stopping the Cylons but it was crueller to know after the fact that they had failed to stop a race that they had created. Along with Zoe, Daniel and Amanda there also stood Tamara Adama, herself created from an avatar of the original Tamara who had died in a terrorist attack and Cyrus Xander, Daniels long-time friend and former assistant, himself a continuation of the original through human resurrection. This wasn't to say they were alone in the CIC since manning the various stations were men and women who had either worked for one of a number of companies owned by the Graystones or were made aware of their contingency plans in case the Cylons ever returned. But now those men and women who had previous service in the fleet but had since mustered out had been recomissioned and those who didn't have a fleet record were conscripted at the current Commanders discretion.

Releasing himself from Amanda's embrace as she went on to Zoe, Daniel turned to Cyrus, "Were you able to secure the scientists?"

Approaching Daniel, Cyus replied, "Most of them who were there, thankfully your warning gave us sufficient time to get to the bunkers but we weren't able to find Doctors Ridley, Kamara or Lund along with section 18. The fact is today was a national holiday, there was only about a quarter of the staff at CORA".

Shaking his head and emitting defeat, Daniel replied "I know. Were you able to secure the archives and any materials?" the archives held every bit of knowledge accumulated in genetic advancement and organ research and creation and the materials was equipment necessary for the creation of organs. All of this was necessary not just for the Graystones, for whom it was required to create their bodies but for the Colonial people themselves as it allowed for the creation of organs from stem cells meaning if a colonial needed an organ transplant like a kidney, then a new kidney could be grown and not be rejected by the patient.

"Yes, we managed to get the backup archives and as for materials we've retrieved most of what we need, the rest we should have available in this ship".

"Sir, I've got the Battlestar Galactica on the line. Admiral Adama wishes to speak with you" the communications officer spoke up.

Commander Acheron picked up the old fashioned black phone and went to give it to Daniel who shook his head in reply saying "This is your ship, Commander". Nevertheless the Graystones and their two close friends moved to stand around the hexagonal information management table (Dradis console in centre of CIC) as Acheron activated the speakerphone system.

**Battlestar Galactica CIC**

Standing around the Dradis Console, Admiral Adama, President Roslin and Colonel Tigh were forced to duck out of the way of a petty officer who was cleaning up the blood, grey matter and skull fragments from the management table and the surrounding deck, it was a grim business that Tigh was glad he didn't have to do, all he could think was _why do the Toasters have to make their new machines so lifelike._

A voice came through the speakers, _"This is Panacea Actual, Commander Acheron speaking"._

In front of Adama laid out on the under-lit table was Acheron's service record printed off by Gaeta after Commander Hall informed him of his reactivation of the Panacea's current crew. Merely glancing at it and disregarding it in order to get his own measure of the man, Adama began, "This is Galactica Actual. Commander, I would like to thank you for your intervention at Virgon but I need to know now if the group known as the Graystones are present with you". All eyes in the CIC seemed to fixate on Adama as he asked this, a few crewmembers even muttering curses under their breath. Ever since the first day of the first war more than fifty years ago the Graystones had become a curse word among the Colonials, only a few members knew that a group saying they were the Graystones were responsible for the early warning the fleet was given.

"_This is Daniel Graystone, Admiral. We're here"._ Admiral Adama, Colonel Tigh and President Roslin shared a look between themselves as they heard the voice over the wireless. The voice was unmistakeable, especially to the President who had heard it numerous times when she played recordings of him during class when she was a teacher. Looking at the Admiral she mouthed "It's him".

"Mr Graystone I need to know both how you have survived this long and what your intentions are?" Adama knew that Graystone would be at least 90 years old and while that wasn't all that uncommon given the advances in medical science (average age of death is 112), it was harder to believe given the original Cylon war and the fact that Graystone was reported killed at the start of the last war).

"_Our intentions should be clear Admiral, the defence of humanity. We are all willing to die for the Colonies if necessary. As for how we are alive, that's something best left off the airwaves"._

Covering the microphone, Adama turned to the President "We need to meet him in person if he is to remain in the fleet".

"Is that wise, Admiral? What if he's a Cylon?"

"Then we would have been more fracked than we already are". Uncovering the microphone, Adama said, "Mr Graystone, I need to know that Panacea will respond to my orders and the orders of the next highest fleet officer if I am incapacitated".

"_This is a fleet ship Admiral. All officers and crew are fleet officers and will respond to your commands. However at the present time Panacea has little armament and will be unable to fully defend itself against the Cylons"._

"I'll have a supply ship sent by shortly after our next jump. I also want to meet you in person once the jump is complete. A Raptor can be sent…"

"_There's no need to send a Raptor Admiral, unless you want to check there are no Cylons on board in which case by all means send one"._

Adama realised that maybe it was time to show a little trust, after all he still had Galactica under his feet which was testament to the aid that the Graystones had provided, "Very well, if you have your own then you will be connected to my LSO once we jump. And Mr Graystone…Thank you". Putting the phone back in its holster, Adama read a sheet of paper handed to him by Lt. Gaeta seeing that Admiral Perry had just landed and was being taken to the med bay (life station although this name was rarely used by fleet officers who felt like that was just trying to sugar-coat it's purpose). Adama was torn between his station and going to see Perry but with a jump imminent he was needed here.

**Battlestar Galactica, Med Bay**

**5 Minutes after jump number 2**

Cain had been walking past wounded and dying crew for going on a hundred metres before he got to the Med bay. The majority of them were crying out in pain as the morpha was starting to wear off and it sickened him to see dozens of pilots exhibiting symptoms of advanced radiation poisoning. The smell of faeces and vomit was thick in the air as he looked upon those pilots almost making him gag. Seeing a female pilot around 24 years of age curled up in a foetal position, Cain saw her brown hair starting to fall away. Her skin wasn't just pale but almost green as sweat bled across her body, bloody vomit coated her tanks and she shook as pain coursed through her body, her teeth grinding as she was racked with pain. Around him it seemed like the majority of the pilots were suffering in the same way and Cain knew that this was the second Cylon victory, to make the Colonials watch as those who had fought against them, who had risked their lives to preserve the colonies died a painful, indignant death unlike any other and without an effective cure since the radiation exposure was so severe the anti-radiation meds the colonials had would do nothing except prolong their death. Cain wanted to run away, to get away from this hall of the damned but he knew he had to continue, to show his respect to these pilots and to check on the conditions of those who belonged in Argos Squadron.

Continuing on and looking at the faces of each pilot, Cain finally reached a red headed female and crouched down by her side. She barely even noticed him as he crouched there as her eyes focused and defocused on him. Reaching out, Cain grasped the cold, sweat soaked hand of Major Alice 'Shadow' Fermi, giving her some reassurance that there was someone there watching over her. Major Fermi was the CAG of Argos Squadron who, in the last battle at Virgon collapsed at the controls of her Viper as she led the squadron meaning that Major Thurlow had to take charge before he himself was lost in battle (Even though Major Thurlow ejected, he was killed by debris). It killed Cain to see Alice like this, he'd only met her about a dozen timed before now, back when she was in her prime, and she had struck Cain as a beautiful woman, her smile radiating warmth in a room and her bright blue eyes shining an innocence ill befitting a fighter pilot, but now…

Her eyes focused on Cain and her hand gripped his more tightly as she used a sudden bout of pain that had coursed through her to strengthen herself. "Phoenix?"

Tears eating away at his soul, Cain replied, "It's me Alice".

"I'm glad you're here…where's Buzzer?"

Shaking his head, Cain replied "He didn't make it".

A groan running through her, Alice asked, "And Argos?"

"Still the best in the fleet, we're just waiting for our CAG", it was a lie, Cain knew that Alice wouldn't make it but he couldn't rip away any hope she might be harbouring.

"Don't. I know…David, you need to know…you're one of the best pilots that I've ever seen, our pilots need you and you need to be there for them. Remember, never lie to them…they need to know that they can trust you and…most of all, they need to know that you trust them". Alice gritted her teeth as pain shot through her like lightning but she soldiered on. "Keep your mind on the next moment but don't forget to live in the moment. Pass on your gifts and never…ever let them fear you. The skill of a CAG is to inspire those around them against all reason and…all hope. You need…need to be a light in the dark and a…a weapon on the battlefield. And…if you ever see some…something on the battlefield your commander can't then you need to trust your instincts. This…"a quiver of a scream escaped the Majors lips and her grip on Cain's hand became vice-like as she finished, "This is the skill of an Argonaut and the need of the fleet and re…remember…" her eyes defocussed and a breath left her body along with the last of her strength as with a last whisper "remember where you're from and where you're need to be. The rest will come in a circle…a pool of light" Major Alice Fermi's eyes glazed over as her life seeped out of her, her grip on Cain's hand loosening as she came to rest.

As silent as a whisper, Cain bid "Take your last flight Major. Soar into Elysium". He closed her eyes and took one of her dog tags as he stood up and seemed to recede into a corner as he was racked with guilt and tears. Never again would he be the same, he had witnessed true death for the first time.

Admiral Adama passed by Cain as he looked on in horror at the death surrounding him. It wasn't even like this in the first war and he found it hard to believe that this could be possible. Just seeing the faces of the pilots around him he knew that he would be lucky if only a quarter survived. He wanted to stop by every pilot and try to offer them some hope, but he also knew that there wasn't enough time and that only served to disgust him even more. For Adama, this only served to prove to him that the Lords of Kobol weren't Gods, unlike many Colonials, especially those with a Tauron background, Adama wasn't a believer, preferring to have facts and evidence than running on blind faith. He soldiered on past the handful of medics and those with medical training and into the med bay.

It took Adama a while before his eyes alit on Doctor Sherman Cottle, Galactica's only trained physician, the other three having been transferred over the past three months. The elderly physician had a cigarette tightly clamped between his lips as he pulled off a white plastic surgical garment, disposing of it in a bin before moving onto his next patient all the while grumbling under his breath. Not wanting to disturb the man, Adama started checking on the different faces in the room seeing that there were two other Doctors working here who must have come from the Battlestar Valiant. However not being able to see Admiral Perry, Adama moved to approach Cottle. Seeing his approach, Cottle turned to him, a clipboard held in one hand while his other lit the cigarette.

"How bad is it Sherman?" Adama asked not wanting to make it seem like he was prioritising Admiral Perry in front of all the other patients crowding the bay.

Shaking his head, Doctor Cottle replied, "It's fracked Admiral. Even with the staff off Valiant, Chancellor and Gorkon we're still short staffed. At best if we can stabilise them we're looking at maybe a quarter surviving at best. That's barely 300 and from what I hear it's the same on every Battlestar. We just don't have the facilities to treat this many and I'm no fracking Asclepius".

Adama didn't know what to say to those harsh facts so, instead he asked, "What do you need"

"Access to the facilities on that Medstar you've got out there as well as a full medical staff…"

"Will med students do? We've got 3 ships out there with about fifty students and Doctors on board" Adama suggested remembering that General Boskow had transferred three ships to the fleet at Virgon.

Nodding, Cottle replied "They'll do. We also need more doctors on board Hades, they only have the One doctor on board along with a handful of paramedics. The rest either died or were incapacitated at Leonis and Draken's being worked to the bone".

Trying to come up with a solution Adama answered, "I'm making you Surgeon General, Sherman. Just tell the CIC what the fleet's medics need and you'll get it if we have it. I'll also see about opening up Panacea". Finally seeing the face of Admiral Perry, Adama asked "How's the Admiral"

Shaking his head while blowing out a trail of smoke, Cottle grunted, "Man's fracking lucky to have survived as long as he has. We've done what we can but he's lost a lot of blood and his lungs are barely working due to breathing in too much Tylium laden smoke. His chances aren't good and I've had to induce a coma in order to control his breathing. If he survives the next 24 hours then there'll be a fifty percent chance he'll live. I can't do better than that". Taking a last drag on his cigarette which was now down to the filter, Cottle stubbed it out in a nearby sink saying, "Now unless you want more of my patients to die, get the frak out of my infirmary" before moving onto a burnt deckhand.

Taking one last look around the room, and seeing the pain and shock sketched out on the dozens of faces lining the room, Adama turned and left the med bay and towards the decontamination tents set up at the entrance to each corridor leading to the med bay (this is due to the risk of radiation poisoning in the area which was high as well as to cut down on infection).

**Battlestar Galactica, Port Hanger deck**

It would be surprising to anyone not in the fleet at how fast the hanger had been cleared of Vipers and Raptors since they had landed, each one now being in the service areas and five alert Vipers and their pilots being in the launch tubes ready to be called upon if the Cylons were to jump in. Despite every service bay being filled with Vipers and Raptors, not all Vipers available to Galactica were stored in this hangar. Instead due to the amount of Vipers picked up at Leonis, there was another one and a half squadrons of Mk-VII vipers being stored in the Starboard hanger deck. Due to the starboard flight deck being non-operational due to the launchers being ripped out and with these Mk-VIIs being the most heavily damaged, these Vipers were just being left alone for now.

While Chief Tyrol and his knuckle draggers worked on the numerous ships and the Pilots did what they could to help or just sat around coming to terms with their own grief, Sergeant Mathias led a section of Marines into the hanger with a fireteam taking position on the causeway while the other two fireteams moved down onto the deck and cleared an area around two Raptors that were being wheeled in. Admiral Adama stepped onto the deck, Sergeant Mathias moving into a blocking position in front of him determined that if whoever was in the Raptors opened fire, that the Admiral wouldn't be hit.

The Raptors were brought to a halt and two of the Marines were directed to level their assault rifles at the Viper pilots who were now moving in to see what was going on. As he stepped onto the deck, his hand clenched tight around four dog tags, Cain took in this whole scene and moved to stand near Starbuck and Apollo near the front blocking those behind them. Starbuck muttered, "What the frak's going on"

The Raptors doors unlatched and opened up revealing two Enterprise Solutions guards each who saluted the Admiral, stepping down onto the deck in covering positions with their rifles pointed at the deck but able to be rapidly brought up. Next a tall, thin, ginger haired man with the pain of failure stretched across his face stepped into the open entrance of the Raptor. Adama could only look on in shock as this man resembled numerous photos he had seen of Dr Daniel Graystone and he fought for moments at trying to decide what this man was, Human, Cylon or an unknown son of Graystone while a couple of fingers tightened on triggers but none of the Marines who recognised the man having the nerve to fire without either an order from Adama or Mathias or provocation.

Seeing the man and recognising him for who he was Cain muttered "Fracking hell".

Next to him, Kara asked "You know who he is"

Lee glanced at her "You don't". Turning Lee shouted at the growing crowd of pilots, "Everyone, either get back to work or get the frak to the pilots briefing room" seeing that they were being too slow to move Lee shouted "NOW!" He knew that if they stayed then whatever was going on behind them could turn sour very fast. He just hoped that his father knew just what the frak he was getting himself in for. The pilots started to move off to the briefing room letting Lee turn back to see what was going on. A marine nodded his thanks at him before lowering his gun to point at the deck.

On the wing of the first Raptor, Daniel asked "Permission to come aboard, Admiral".

Letting the shock drain out of himself, Adama replied "Granted" allowing the man to step off the Raptor. Daniel was followed by Amanda and Zoe. Approaching Adama who in turn waved off Mathias, Daniel held out his hand hoping against hope that the Adama sense of honour that he once witnessed in the Admiral's father carried on into his son. It was a moment before the Admiral grasped his hand, feeling the blood pulse through his wrist as the two shook.

As the two broke off their handshake, each having got a small measure of the other man, Daniel turned to the Raptor saying, "My wife Amanda and my daughter Zoe".

Adama vaguely recognised them and remembered that Zoe died in a terrorist attack that killed his sister Tamara, his sister he never knew. Adama gasped, "Just what are you?"

"We aren't Cylon if that's what you're thinking. All I ask is that you hear us out and then draw your own conclusions from that" Daniel replied.

Nodding and trying not to allow his feelings to overtake him, Adama watched as another man stepped onto the wing of the Raptor before stepping down with Daniel introducing him as "Cyrus Xander".

It was the next figure to step onto the Raptor's wing that stopped both the Admiral and Lee dead as Daniel announced "And Tamara Adama".

It seemed that minutes passed by in intense silence as the full weight of Tamara's arrival weighed down heavily upon Bill Adama more so than his son Lee, but it was merely a handful of seconds. The name didn't escape Sergeant Mathias' attention either but she knew better than to say anything. As the seconds slipped by the Admiral finally came back to himself saying, "You'd better follow me. It looks like there is a lot we need to get through".

Daniel stopped him, pointing at the other Raptor and said "We've also brought 4 paramedics and a surgeon. Three of them are reactivated fleet. We guessed that you might need them".

Nodding, Adama said to Mathias, "Have a marine get Gaeta to check out their records. If they pass then have the marine escort them to the life station. The rest follow me". Mathias ordered one fireteam to stay behind and another to contact the CIC then followed Adama, the Graystone group and the marines as they moved towards the stairs. Seeing Lee who had a look of questioning shock on his face, Adama motioned for him to join them as they left the deck.

Kara turned to Cain, "Just who the frak was that?"

Answering and keeping his voice low, Cain said "Daniel Graystone. Or at least the spitting double of him and he's barely aged".

Her hands on her hips and her flightsuit's arms tied around her waist Kara remarked "Frak! This day just gets better and better".

**Battlestar Galactica, Conference Room 1 (3 minutes later. Jump number 3)**

The President, Billy and Dr Gaius Baltar were sat waiting in the conference room when Colonel Tigh entered after performing a third jump that Adama had scheduled. Well almost everyone was sat on the chairs provided except Dr Baltar who was working a hole in the floor with all of his walking about as he tried to come to terms with his guilt and the fact that he kept seeing the form of Natasi (Caprica-Six. Named in the bsg miniseries novelisation) in various states of dress. Tigh taking a sip of the now cold coffee and desperate for a good glass of ambrosia, suddenly snapped "Fracking sit down, Doctor!" Baltar, shocked by the sudden outburst along with the President and Billy (who had jumped), sat down in one of the empty chairs just as Adama entered the room followed by Daniel Graystone and his friends and family. President Roslin upon seeing Daniel gasped and Baltar visibly paled. Tigh's reaction on the other hand was much more animated as he burst out of his seat and backed up against a wall as his hand went to his sidearm "What the frak is going on Bill?"

Growling, Adama said "Sit down, Colonel. I've agreed to hear them out and I can't do that if they have a hole in the forehead". As Lee sat next to Billy, the Graystone group moved into the room to stand behind a number of empty chairs and Colonel Tigh sat back down, Adama ordered "Sergeant Mathias, I want you to stay. The rest of your marines wait outside". Mathias nodded and upon closing the hatch went to stand by the side of it. Moving to sit behind the chair in between the President and Colonel Tigh, Adama witnessed as the Graystone group sat on the other side of the room.

Once Adama introduced them the President beat Adama to the punch when she asked the Graystones "Just what are you?".

Glancing at his family and friends before turning his attention back to Roslin and Adama, Daniel replied "It's complicated. In basic terms me, Amanda and Cyrus are clones or at least our bodies are. Our minds are the originals that have been imprinted on these bodies. Essentially our minds are more than 90 years old but the bodies are accelerated clones which are 5 years old when our minds are imprinted on them but are close to the genetic age that we were at when we died".

Doctor Baltar started nodding along with this as he understood what Daniel meant and the basics of what the science might involve but asked "How are your minds imprinted?"

"Most likely it's the same way that the new generation of Cylons are created. And before you ask, no we did not give the Cylons this technology. We've embedded a small hardened microchip inside our skull before we're imprinted which we connect to certain parts of our brain. Added to that there is also a small amount of brain modification on the genetic level. The chip allows for the imprinting of a mind when used in conjunction with a superior version of the holoband and when we die the modifications we've made to our brain transmit our consciousness' into subspace using our body's energy to do this. On the other end we have a subspace receiver that can collect our minds in a meta-cognitive processor before imprinting on a new body".

Baltar managed to follow this and said to the President, "It's possible, at least with a combination of pre-war tech and current tech although how they managed it I don't know. What's your maximum range?"

Zoe answered "Just under half a light-year, any more and the quantum flow holding our minds together starts to break down", seeing the confusion on Roslin's face Zoe continued "we become brain damaged. Then by 1 light-year there is nothing left to pick up, at least in theory. Truth is we daren't risk more than point five light-years".

Roslin asked, "And this technology, do you have it in the fleet?"

Nodding, Daniel replied "Yes. We currently have three bodies each separated onto three different ships along with the technology required".

"What about you two?" Lee asked indicating Zoe and Tamara.

"We're different" Zoe replied, "I was created by Zoe Graystone seven months before she was killed in a mag lev bombing. My mind she copied from her own and I existed in V world. From the moment she copied her mind we have been two different individuals. After she died a friend brought my father to see me in V world and not realising that I was more than an advanced avatar, he imprinted me on an MCP which was placed inside the first prototype of the U-87 Cylon".

"What the frak is wrong with you people?" Tigh burst out.

Daniel in as calm a tone as he could said "You have to understand that I didn't think that this Zoe was anything more than an advanced avatar. I didn't think that she was sentient, if I did I would have never imprisoned her in that robot. As it was my, company was awarded a defence contract because of it. Eventually Zoe as the Cylon escaped my lab and the body was largely destroyed but somehow her mind was able to upload to V world. The MCPs of the next Cylons were copied off the MCP in the U-87 after she uploaded but unknown to myself the ability for sentience a 'read-write' state if you will was copied into these MCPs along with a corrupted element of Zoe's personality".

"Dad eventually found me in V-World and after talking things over with mum I came to understand them".

"It took us years…" Amanda continued "But we eventually managed to create a body for Zoe which while not organic was the next best thing".

"We were however stuck with the coding which would allow for resurrection technology but a man in V world gave me the code needed. And before you ask, I don't know who he was but I'm starting to believe he may have given the code to the Cylons".

"So…" Lee concluded "…You're a copy of the original Zoe?". Turning to Tamara, Lee asked "And you Tamara? I know that my Aunt Tamara was killed in a terrorist bombing, the same one Zoe was killed in".

"But what you might not know is that your grandfather had Daniel create an avatar of his daughter out of all her collected information. I'm the avatar. Eventually when the Graystones made up they accepted me and eventually gave me a body. I'm not your Aunt, Lee but I feel like it because I share many of the memories and much of the personality of Tamara. Now all our bodies are organic clones. Mine and Zoes from hair follicles".

Leaning forward Lee asked with incredulity in his voice "How the hell did my grandfather get involved with the Graystones?"

"I approached him…"Daniel answered "and used…"

The Admiral started to remember why he hated his father and said "For a while my father worked at Graystone Industries. It was some job for the Ha'la'tha. He never spoke of it but I've seen some of the photos and heard the rumours".

"You know?" Daniel asked.

"I know that I don't want to know. I left that life behind and I've made sure it isn't part of Lee's".

"I can understand that", Daniel answered.

"So Doctor…" Roslin broke in, "How do we defeat the Cylons?"

Letting out a breath, Daniel replied "If I knew that then we wouldn't be in this mess".

Taking over Cyrus said "We've worked ever since the Cylon uprising to find a way to either shut down or destroy the Cylons if they returned like they have done today but despite everything you have seen, the Cylons are too advanced for any plan we can come up with at the moment".

"Bullshit". Tigh exclaimed drawing all eye to him, "You people were able to hold back the Cylons virus at Caprica and stop their Raiders at Leonis while also capturing some of their Basestars…"

"All of which was possible…" Cyrus answered "…because of the immense power available to us on those planets combined with the Cyphers across Caprica and the handful we had on Leonis".

Zoe informed them "It isn't easy controlling a Basestar. The Cylons have a new MCP controlling them which seems to be a combination of machine and organic…"

Adama suddenly remembered a mission he was on a long time ago and nodded asking "Can you stop them from resurrecting?"

Looking between each other was answer enough for Adama but he was surprised when Zoe said "We barely understand subspace if that is the means of transmission for the Cylons minds but we might be able to help you find them and we were able to download almost 300 Exabyte's of information from the Cylon Basestars we captured. While it's coded and incomplete, once we crack the code then we should be able to find something to help us. We currently have all the data stored on secured hard drives on Panacea and are working to copy the data so as not to lose it".

"I want the originals once you've copied them" Adama informed the Graystones with steel in his voice.

Nodding as this seemed fair to Daniel he replied "I suspected you might. I'll get them to you by the end of the day. You'll also have to set up a closed network in order to fully access them when you get them"

"We can do that", as opposed to networks as Adama was, he wasn't a moron, he knew that in some circumstances closed networks were necessary, networks not tied into communications or outside computers and without wireless technology. Galactica was also designed with three rooms which although they looked very much like cells, were completely surrounded by copper wiring which when a charge was run through it would create a faraday cage further blocking wireless technology. Essentially these were areas created to hold the original Cylon Centurions or other Cylon models if it was deemed they held valuable intelligence and while the Galactica's had never before been used her sister ship's the Columbia's had. It was in one of these rooms that Adama was planning to build the closed network.

Looking aghast, Lee burst out "You can't seriously be thinking of working with them. You heard them, they're just…"

"That's enough Captain", the craggy voice of Colonel Tigh replied as he tried to shake a headache that had just befallen him. "I don't like this anymore than you do, but you weren't at Leonis. The Cylons were this close…" Tigh said as he emphasized with a finger and thumb …from totally destroying us. If it wasn't for the Graystones - whatever they are – from stopping the Raiders from attacking us then we wouldn't have a single Battlestar right now". Looking around the table Tigh continued "I would fracking take my own life before I ever worked with a Cylon but looking across the table I'm not sure what the frak I see, but whatever they are they aren't any Cylon I've seen. Just so I make myself clear I don't trust any of you, but I trust the old man and if he says we work with you then we work with you but the moment you betray us..." Tigh let the threat hang before leaning back in his chair finishing "Now I've said my piece".

A silence descended upon the room before President Roslin broke the silence "Well…thank you Colonel for that…eloquent and passionate speech", Tigh grunted in reply "There is one the thing I am curious about. What's with the fleet you brought?"

In reply Tamara asked "You mean to say why do we own those companies?" At the President's nod, Tamara replied "Shortly after the first war we realised we had to prepare for a possible future return of the Cylons so using our considerable hacking expertise we…we stole a great deal of money and became outright owners in a handful of companies. We chose LES wines because they already had a considerable fleet of ships which we realised could be used by the fleet if they were needed and we created Enterprise solutions in order to make sure certain military skills didn't go to waste".

Trying to come to terms with everything that had been covered, Adama was surprised to hear Zoe ask "Doctor Baltar, we need to know, did you work with anyone else on the CNP?"

Looking down the table at the Doctor, Adama saw a wave of surprise and something else he couldn't quite place come crashing down on Baltar's face as he replied "What? What are you trying to say?"

"We just want to know if you worked with anyone else on it".

"No. There was only the military inspectors. That was it".

Letting out a breath, Daniel said "Then it's as we feared".

"What do you mean?" Adama asked.

"As soon as it became clear there was a virus in play…" Zoe began "We did a search through every update given to the fleet recently. What we found is that the CNP had a backdoor as you already know. Now I've seen Baltar's work and while it isn't perfect, in fact to be quite honest it's pretty ugly, he always covers himself and gets the job done. However in the CNP the vast majority of the coding is obviously Baltar's but there are two lines that are in one word beautiful. Those two lines allow for the backdoor and channelling a virus into the ship's systems. If you're as used to coding as we are its obvious that they're two entirely different people. It's just like two different forms of handwriting".

"Which means…" Daniel concluded "…that the Cylons had at least one of these 'skin jobs' in the ministry of defence who added the backdoor".

"And you just happened to have access to the updates" Lee accused.

"We had our own people in the ministry and the fleet. People who were concerned about the amount of networking involved and trusted us" Cyrus answered.

"But you missed it" Roslin said.

With defeat covering his body, Daniel said "We were more concerned about the Cicero antiviral software not to mention two dozen other packages. It just didn't seem as hazardous".

"That doesn't mean we didn't check it…" Zoe said "…We did but the Cylon Virus isn't strictly speaking a virus. It's more like an activation code and the backdoor is so small that it isn't easy to spot unless you know what to look for".

An echoing knocking on the hatch led to Captain Adama getting up and opening it before turning to the Admiral, "Admiral…"

Getting up, the Admiral went and listened to the petty officer before closing the hatch and sitting down again. Seeing the questioning look on the President's face he said "Admiral Perry just passed away. His injuries were too severe".

Seeing the look on his craggy face, Roslin replied "I'm sorry, Admiral".

Looking Daniel in the eye, Adama told him "We have more than a thousand crewmen that are in vital need of medical assistance. Within the next half hour I'm going to be transferring them, marines and medical staff to Panacea along with any fleet officers I feel necessary".

Nodding Daniel said "I've already told you Admiral, she's a fleet ship along with the crew and we'll follow your orders just like a military officer would. But there is one thing the crew of Panacea need and that's uniforms and you should also know that there are currently over a thousand people already on board, many with varying degrees of brain damage".

"Brain damage" Roslin asked.

"These people are the cyphers that blocked the cylon virus at caprica. The Basestars MCPs did a number on them and while we currently have medical staff, many of them from the CORA labs working on them, we could do with a little help".

"What's CORA?" Billy asked.

Baltar who was familiar with them said "Clone Organ Research and Advancement. The fleet might know them as…"

"Lazarus Healthcare. If an officer loses a limb, insurance pays for a new one but the officer has to agree to a minimum of ten years service. There'll still be beds available for new patients" Adama concluded. Standing, he said "If you will give us a minute, we need to talk". Daniel nodded in reply as Adama and his people got up and left the room leaving only Mathias to watch over the Graystone group.

In the corridor Adama, Roslin, Tigh, Billy, Baltar and Apollo stood in a clustered circle. Straight away Adama asked "Opinions?"

Strangely enough it was Billy who spoke first "I think they've been honest with us…"

"They're skinjobs!" Lee hissed.

"No, they're not…"Baltar said but then continued confusing even himself "…well they are but they're not Cylon skinjobs, at least not the Cylons who attacked us".

Cutting him off after remembering what he had once seen during the last day of the first war, Adama asked "Doctor would you agree that the Graystone's would be capable of producing clones and this resurrection technology?"

All eyes turned to Baltar as, cocking his head to the side as if listening to someone whisper in his ear, he replied "Daniel Graystone was the best coder in the colonies of all time, and it's been said that his daughter was a prodigy before she died. I've come across some of Xander's work in the past and it was impressive to say the least. Amanda Graystone on the other hand was also one of the top ten plastic surgeons in the Colonies and if you combine their work, an early version of a skinjob is possible although basic. But if you add in the advances available through CORA…they could do it".

Tigh muttered "I wouldn't trust them as far as I can throw them, but…a lot of people are alive because of them and Leonis wouldn't have been possible without them" it was hard for Tigh to admit.

"We give them a chance, Admiral" Roslin said, "And if they do anything to harm us we stick them in a Raptor, jump away from the fleet and kill them".

Looking her in the eye, Adama decide to follow her advice and led them back into the room. As they sat back down, he said "We're willing to allow you to stay with the fleet. But I want you working with Doctor Baltar and my own people at cracking the Cylons technology and codes. You need to prove yourselves to us and the rest of humanity. Do that…do that and we might all stand a chance. And I'm not going to say it's going to be easy because it won't be…"

"We know, Admiral. There's always going to be resentment. It's just something we have to live with".

"As long as we understand each other".

**Cylon Command Basestar, 2 hours after the Colonial Fleet**'**s Escape**

Seated around a long conference Table, Cavil as ever at the head and with the red strip dancing back and forth on the wall mixing with the bright lights would make any human struggle to adjust to the brightness, but it did nothing to these Cylons as they debated amongst themselves.

"We've started what repairs we can on our ships but the best we can do is have 20 maybe 25 ready for battle within the next two maybe three days" a Number Two informed the others, immediately gaining the ire of Cavil.

"We need to keep up the attacks on the fleet", no longer was Cavil being overtly vocal instead it almost seemed as if he might be willing to listen to reason.

"No", Four said "We lost far more ships in that last battle than we should have and we don't currently have an accurate assessment of the Colonial strength. If we attack now, then that's it".

"I agree", D'Anna added "All we need to do is keep following them from a distance with two Basestars then when our ships are repaired enough to amass a coordinated attack on them we do it. Need I remind everyone that there are currently devices on many of those ships".

Hating this disgusting body he was forced to reside in for making him tired already, Cavil replied "Okay, I see that this is something you all agree on. We jump in two days".

**Battlestar Defiant, Port Hanger Deck. 6 Hours after exodus. Jump number 5.**

Commander Hall walked down the line between two rows of bodies looking down at each face and memorising them all. All he could think of was that they might have been the lucky ones not to have survived the attack. Many of the bodies, the elderly commander didn't recognise since they had served on other Battlestars but that didn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things. What did matter was that every single body laying on this cold hard deck were Colonial, they were human and they had given their lives to protect those who were unable to protect themselves. Everyone of them was a hero.

Lifting his head, his grey eyes fixed on the kneeling figure of Lt. Susan 'Budget ' Williams whose tears were almost soaking her flightsuit. Next to her was the body of a female pilot sealed in a clear plastic body bag with a radiological warning printed on it. She looked up as the Commander neared her and seeing that she wanted to talk, he stopped by her.

Kneeling by her side and hiding his grimace as his joints, heavy with arthritis reluctantly moved, he asked "Who is she?" He could tell that this wasn't one of his pilots.

As the tears continued to fall, Williams replied "My sister. She served on the Tempest".

Laying a heavy hand on her shoulder the elderly commander replied, "Tell me about her".

**Battlestation Nemea, 13 hours after the Exodus (5:22 AM). Jump number 7.**

Entering the CIC, a CIC that was just slightly larger than Galactica's, Commander Stiles was given a report by from the officer of the watch. Stiles rubbed the back of his neck as he read through the report seeing that the crew transfers from the Battlestar Valiant and some of the colonial fleet refugees (i.e. surviving crew from ships like the triton) to the previously decommissioned Battlestar Corsair were now complete as was the refuelling and rearmament. All this meant that a fresh battle ready Battlestar could re-join the fleet within the next ten minutes. In addition the Battlestar Halcyon which was being dragged by tugs and the Battlestar Crucible could be brought into service within the next two hours once crew transfers were completed although this would mean that a lot of battlefield promotions might have to be made. But two more Battlestars meant more fleet coverage.

His crews were also trying to get the support ships operational but a lot of them were worse than they looked, at best he thought he might be able to get half of them operational and maybe strip the rest. It was a headache waiting to happen.

Turning to his communications officer, Stiles ordered "Tom, send this report to the Galactica and inform them that due to the way the Battlestar Hornet was decommissioned we're going to have to take her in and fix her up in one of the docks. Expect her to be repaired and on the line a week from now".

"Aye sir".

**Battlestar Galactica, Starboard Hanger Deck, 1 day after exodus, jump 10.**

As Elosha was finishing her service for the many dead and dying of Galactica as her counterparts did the same on the other ships throughout the fleet, Adama stepped out of line, looking at all those around him he spoke the truth; "Are they the lucky ones? That's what you're thinking, isn't it? We're a long way from home. We've jumped way beyond the Red Line, into uncharted space. Limited supplies, limited fuel, few ships, and now, no hope?"

Cain watched him as he ripped away whatever hope those around him might have had and for once he hoped that this would be another of Adamas great speeches otherwise he might not survive the next few minutes. Thankfully he continued but it only got worse, "Maybe it would have been better for us to have died quickly, back on the Colonies with our families, instead of dying out here slowly, in the emptiness of dark space. Where shall we go? What shall we do?" Hope then entered into Adamas words as he continued, "Life here began out there. Those are the first words of the sacred scrolls, and they were told to us by the Lords of Kobol, many countless centuries ago. And they made it perfectly clear that we are not alone in this universe. Elosha, there's a 13th colony of humankind, is there not?"

Elosha, caught off guard by his question, no statement replied, "Yes. The scrolls tell us a 13th tribe left Kobol in the early days. They travelled far and made their home upon a planet called Earth, which circled a distant and unknown star".

With steel in his voice and the below of a dragon Adama announced "It's not unknown. I know where it is! Earth. The most guarded secret we have. The location was only known by the senior commanders of the fleet, and we dare not share it with the public. Not while there was a Cylon threat upon us. For now we have a refuge to go to. A refuge the Cylons know nothing about. It won't be an easy journey. It'll be long, and arduous. But I promise you one thing: on the memory of those lying here before you, we shall find it, and Earth shall become our new home. So say we all!"

There was a smattering of replies so Adama again shouted "So say we all!", receiving a stronger reply this time. But it wasn't good enough so he went again and again and again until his crew finally worked up the nerve and the strength to prove to him just why they survived. The funeral was over. A storm was coming.

**Battlestar Galactica, 2 Days after exodus, Jump 12**

"Major Cylon Contacts. Reading 30 Basestars bearing 148 karom 226. They're launching Raiders" Lt. Gaeta called out to the Admiral.

"Launch Alert Vipers and start jumping the fleet" the Admiral called out.

As he stepped back into the CIC, the smell of whisky tainting his breath, Tigh said to him "The Frackers have got some way of tracking us". Just 33 minutes before, just as the fleet was performing it's 12th jump, the Cylons had jumped in. Thankfully the fleet didn't have to engage and hopefully they wouldn't this time either, but that could only last so long and if the Cylons kept coming every 33 minutes, Adama shuddered to think what might happen. Above him, silently blinking away was a white dome just as there was in numerous fleet CIC's.

**Fleet Ships: 643**

**Fleet Population: 761,483**

**Hope you liked that chapter, I know there was a lot of talking and no action but Galactica was a primarily character driven show and I wanted to start properly developing the characters. As you might have guessed the next chapter will be focussing on 33 which due to the size of the fleet, will be slightly different. Below you will find a list of the known Colonial Fleet ships to have survived the attacks will name the support ships next chapter. Reviews are appreciated.**

**Battlestars**

Battlestar Galactica Mildly damaged

Battlestar Defiant Mildly damaged

Battlestar Valkyrie moderate damage

Battlestar Hades heavy damage

Battlestar Talon mild damage

Battlestar Tigress heavy damage

Battlestar Corsair (Decommissioned currently inside nemea)

Battlestar Valiant (severe damage inside nemea)

Battlestar Crucible (tug)decommissioned

Battlestar Halcyon (tug)decommissioned

Battlestar Hornet (tug) decommissioned

**2 Marinestars**

4 heavy cruiser

4 light cruisers

9 Gunstars

5 Missilestars

5 Destroyers

**Destroyers**

Achilles

Red Blood


	15. Chapter 15 33 The Reaping

? ' /

**Battlestar Galactica New Beginnings**

**(Season 1 Episode 1 title:33)**

**Chapter 15: 33 The Reaping**

**Battlestar Galactica, CIC Jump 67**

The red digits blinked away to be replaced by a new set and then another new set; 0:32:29.

His partially bloodshot and red rimmed eyes staring at the numbers as they grew higher and higher, all Admiral Adama could hope for was maybe this time, maybe this time will get away. Around him in the CIC of the Battlestar Galactica, the various officers and crewmembers were each showing signs of fatigue as each consecutive jump got to them. Had Adama been looking he would have seen Colonel Tigh slap a young and severely tired operator across the back of the head as he dozed startling the man before Tigh moved to join Adama. All the while hundreds of civilian ships were jumping and squadrons of Raiders and Vipers were being launched throughout the fleet.

Adama blinked and seemed to slip into a microsleep and before he knew it the alarm started blaring throughout the CIC marking off 33 minutes since the last jump.

"MULTIPLE DRADIS CONTACTS! Reading 20 Cylon Basestars, at 209 karom 248, they're launching raiders" called out a suddenly alert Lieutenant Gaeta, before Adama could ask he continued "52 civilian ships left".

Thrusting himself right back into reality as he started calling out orders "Helm, bring us on course for an intercept of the lead Cylon Basestar and tactical prepare to open up with forward batteries and pass orders to the other commanders to watch their sections". Throughout the fleet were the spread out remnants of the Colonial Fleet, each covering their own sections of civilian ships, by now with so many civilian ships having jumped out only the Battlestars Galactica, Defiant and Valkyrie remained behind, each one now turning to present their guns towards the enemy fleet while at the same they spewed out whatever Vipers were still left in their hangers. Away from the three Battlestars they flew, joining up with their fellow pilots on their measured runs towards the hastily fielding Cylon Raiders which were dropping down from their docking points on the Basestars. Over the pilots heads a cavalcade of flak fire was bursting into existence, these walls of fire forming a narrow corridor meant to channel the raiders towards the Viper and Raptor pilots. But to Adama all of this had to be shown on a number of dradis monitors and intelligence screens. As he stood there waiting for the last of the civilian ships to jump out, the elderly Admiral felt a faint tremor course from the body of the Battlestar and into his own as the point defences were joined by every Anti-Ship weapon that was in position.

As the viper and raider forces clashed, Adama noted some vipers disappearing from the dradis screen as the Cylons superior numbers added to the fact that his pilots were so exhausted that they were running on fumes finally got to them. All around the pilots the civilian fleet continued their own jumps, disappearing in violent bursts of light as tremendous amounts of power tore open the very fabric of subspace depositing these ships lightyears away with the rest of the Colonial Fleet, but to those pilots flying the multitudes of Vipers and Raptors against the oncoming horde of Cylon Raiders, the civilian ships were a distraction that was almost certain to get them killed if they allowed themselves to be distracted, the only time they needed to actually notice the Civilian vessels was if they were in direct and imminent danger. But in this time when those civilian ships held the last of the human race, they would always be in danger. Adama knew all this from his own time as a pilot during the first war when he was called upon to protect various civilian assets, and no matter the war some things never changed.

With only 14 civilian ships left, Adama heard Colonel Tigh calling out "Kelly, get on the fracking horn to Defiant and Valkyrie and start working on getting our pilots working together…" alerted to this the newly promoted Admiral Adama saw just what had caught Tigh's ire, holes were forming in the fleets viper screen and the Cylons were taking advantage of them by throwing entire formations of Raiders through the gaps and either flanking the vipers or moving onto attack runs on the remaining civilian ships.

"Helm, turn starboard 20 degrees and rotate along the x axis 40 degrees and bring all dorsal guns to bear on 248 karom 260. Gaeta have Defiant and Valkyrie match our manoeuvers and bring their dorsal aspects to bear on the Cylon fleet. And at 30 seconds have Defiant and Valkyrie turn away from the Cylon Fleet", Adama knew that anytime now the civilian ships would be all gone and the fleets vipers and raptors would have to make a mad dash back to their home ships, it would be chaos as all combat landings are. But if Adama was able to bring enough covering fire to bear on the Cylon Raiders then he just might be able to save more of his pilots.

"The Whistler is reporting uncontrolled fires in…Admiral we've lost the Whistler, massive detonations". It seemed that no sooner had Dee reported this heavy blow to the hopes and dreams of many that Dee was forced to add "Argos flight lead reports multiple Raiders on course for the Opus, they're opening fire…Admiral…contact has been lost with Opus". And so with Opus went the last of the Civilian vessels. The blow was so heavy to Adama that for a few brief moments he seemed to revert to autopilot before orders were given for combat landings while hundreds of guns cleared the vacuum of raiders. The Battlestars Galactica, Defiant and Valkyrie jumped after the rest of the civilian fleet.

Jump 67 was complete. The clock was reset. All this had happened before…

**Caprica**

His heart pounding just as his feet were through this rain soaked forest, a muddy puddle bursting under his boot, Helo knew he had to keep running. Behind him he could hear the mechanical servos of the two Chrome centurions chasing him down, he couldn't let them catch him, if they did then he was a dead man. The rain stung his skin as it hit, evidence of the acid rains flooding the planet, today was just another day of the constant rainfall which felt like it hadn't stopped since the nukes had fallen.

They were gaining on him. Passing a tree he recognised, Helo took a quick glance around himself and realised he was where he needed to be. There was the felled tree. Running towards it and leaping over its trunk Helo pulled a detonator towards himself and crouched down as the Cylons came closer and closer. Taking deep breaths to quell his racing heart, Helo did all he could to calm himself so as to not reveal his presence to the Cylons.

The Centurions were in the clearing now, they had slowed down scanning their surroundings, searching for him. It had to be now. Activating the detonator, Helo was glad to hear a deep boom from the mines he had planted detonating in the rain drenched forest and barely audible in the explosion the fragmentation of metal as the Centurions were hit. Popping up, his sidearm in his hands, Helo moved towards the wreckage of the Centurions. One still moved minus its lower half. It's roving red eye fixing on Helo and struggling to move it's body so as to bring it's forearm gun to bear on the Lieutenant. Helo Spared no time in firing out as many shots as he could into the dismembered chrome body until it finally stopped moving and the red eye went dark. It was over, for now.

**Battlestar Galactica Jump 80**

There's a point that you eventually get to when, deprived of sleep where it feels like you are in a waking dream, where every sensation feels like it's being muffled by cotton wool so much so that your reactions to external stimuli are numbed. The point at which this arrives is different for all men and women, for some it was 24 hours for others 48 or 72 hours, either because they'd trained their bodies to survive longer without sleep or because of a natural biological reaction, it didn't matter how, the fact was that eventually when the crews of the various fleet vessels entered this cotton wool state the number of deaths would increase significantly. Exponentially.

As Captain David "Phoenix" Cain entered the main pilot briefing room he couldn't help but think that Forty two and a half hours had already passed since the Cylons had started pursuing them every 33 minutes and already the various crews were feeling the strain, he could only hope that the fleet could overcome the Cylons tracking technology and overcome it fast because as he passed the collected ranks of Vigilante and Argos Squadron, meeting up with Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama at the front, he couldn't help but notice that the room was less crowded than it was half an hour ago. However despite both squadrons having lost pilots (Vigilante 3, Argos 1), Cain was grateful to see 2 pilots returning to duty having been discharged from the medical bay, one of whom he recognised as being a member of Argos Squadrons ill-fated Beta Squadron (Beta Squadron was assigned to Caprica as part of her permanent defence force and only two pilots that served in this squadron survived the battle of Caprica, both with radiation sickness).

Turning to Captain Adama who like Cain was new to the role as CAG of Vigilante Squadron, Cain heard Adama continue saying "…Raiders will keep on coming in at us like they have been. You all need to keep watching your corners or you will be pounced upon". As Lee paused and stared at the pilots slumped in their seats or against walls, some of them obviously too tired to continue listening to him with their eyes open, he couldn't help but let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding and saying "Look, we lost another two ships in that last jump. I'm not saying it's your fault because it isn't, it's those damn toasters out there. But we need to keep our heads in the game, we need to be aware of our surroundings and any gaps that may form in our joint formations or we will lose more men, women and children on board those civie ships. Just…just keep your minds on the job". Lee knew there wasn't much else that he could say and in a way was grateful that Captain Cain had arrived to debrief his own squadron.

Over the hours a mutual respect had developed between the two CAGs as they were forced to combine their squadrons due to them not being able to fly two full squadrons despite refuged pilots (pilots from other Battlestars and installations which had since been destroyed – think Crashdown whom came from the Battlestar Triton). Due to Argos squadron having been seen as the elite among Viper and Raptor pilots and because their training regime was twice as long and harder than for a standard pilot, Apollo was only too happy to let Cain be overall CAG of the conjoined squadrons until they were able to fly as two separate squadrons again, in fact to Apollo it was a mild relief.

"Alright, I've just spoken to the chief, and we've now got another four birds down, while they are repairable, there just isn't the time right now. While this news won't affect us right now thanks to the extra Vipers we have in reserve, it will bite eventually and we have to be prepared for it because believe me when I say that if it gets any worse then you will be roped into effecting repairs on our own birds", a groan spread throughout the assembled pilots (those who were still awake) but thankfully they were too tired to argue. "I'm also imposing a ban on Coffee and any caffeine related drink and food from now on, same with stims unless ordered to by the Old Man…"

**Jump 99**

The Cylons came in fast and hard, there was no finesse in this attack, it was just like an onward rushing train. The colonial fleet was struggling more than ever in this jump, 83 ships were having trouble with their ftl drives including the Battlestar Hornet which was currently under tug and the Civilian ship Saracen was just starting an essential refuelling when the Cylons jumped in. With so many ships in trouble the Battlestars Galactica, Hades and Talon and both destroyers Achilles and Red Blood stayed behind to watch over their wayward flock. Turning into the attack the combined might of the Colonial ships started unleashing torrents of firepower into the faces of the Raider horde and behind them at the mass of 35 Basestars while at the same time hundreds of weary Viper Pilots fought their way to the oncoming Raiders. Missiles were crushed in the vicelike grip of the Colonials wall of flak, some even managing to bypass the imperfect walls and strike against the armoured hides of the Battlestar group.

The Colonials kept up their own fire, primarily targeting the central columns of the Basestars along with what had been identified as hangers. The Cylons kept pushing forward, their rate of acceleration increasing putting them closer and closer to the Civilian ships. The Colonials tried to counter their movements by closing on the Cylon Basestars and spreading themselves out so that the Cylons had to fight their way through them to get to the Civilian fleet. The Cylons never blinked an eyelid and rushed into the attack, missiles skewered the Achilles, some forcing their way into the very heart of the destroyer and causing utter destruction of the entire ship as the charged ftl drives detonated unleashing their immense waves of pent up power. Responding in kind the Colonial Battlestars Galactica and Hades caught three Basestars in a successive pincer movement slamming hundreds of anti-ship rounds into them from both sides causing their destruction while the Talon fought to cover the back of Red Blood as Basestars closed on them from all sides. Then with the crash of a missile against her spine and a clash of sparks and smoke the Red Blood went dark, her engines sputtered and died and she started to drift.

The Cylons saw an opening and closed on the lone Talon from all sides, the threat of the Red Blood ended. A lone Raider jumped out and away from the field of battle five Basestars, each showing various degrees of damage jumped in at the heart of the remaining 32 civilian ships. Thousands of Raiders dropped from their pedestals, and hundreds of missiles were spat off their rails towards the expanding civilian formation.

Before the colonial military had a chance to even digest this new attack a Tylium based missile exploded against the ventral side of the Saracen burning through the thin ablative armour of the civilian vessel, superheating the water held inside the ship's onboard reservoirs and causing them to explode. These explosions tore through the ship so hard that she bucked under the kick and tore herself free of the Tylium Ship Majestic Pride's umbilical. Safety cutoffs kicked in aboard the Majestic Pride cutting the flow of Tylium but that still left the hundreds of litres of flash frozen Tylium coating the vacuum between the ships. Accelerating as hard as she could the Majestic Pride managed to avoid a handful of missiles that had been closing on her but it was this acceleration that led to her end as the fusion drives set the flash frozen Tylium alight into a crackling cascade that blew through the hull around the drives. It took just three seconds before a bright light burnt through space leaving a thousand tumbling parts behind in its wake.

This was only the start. The Raiders scenting blood went on a mad dash through the fleet, their guns seemed to spew out an endless amount of rounds into their defenceless hulls and missiles seemed to detonate at random. The handful of Vipers and Raptors with the Civilian fleet were totally outnumbered and any defence they threw up was met with overwhelming firepower. Nuclear missiles tore through the hulls of the Battlestar Hornet and her tugs leaving only drifting wrecks in their wake. Death surrounded these five Basestars with barely a handful of Civilian vessels managing to escape.

The Military vessels seeing that they could do no more withcalled their Vipers and began their own jumps with the Basestars coming at them hard and fast. With only the Galactica remaining the seemingly defeated Red Blood defied the Cylons by vanishing in a bright flash of light as her jump drives activated, the tidal forces tearing through the hull of a nearby Basestar which had been content that the disabled destroyer was no threat. Galactica followed close on her heels.

**Battlestar Galactica, CIC Jump 123**

"I'm splitting up the fleet, Saul" Adama spoke up from his position over the plot table.

Expecting surprise in Tigh's reply, Adama noted a complete lack of it "Thought you would eventually. The question is, can we plot enough jumps".

"We can if we let each Battlestar make its own calculations for their first jump away from the fleet and 33 minutes later another jump with fresh coordinates…" looking up at Colonel Tigh, Adama continued "…only if the Cylons haven't jumped in by that time".

"And if they haven't?" Tigh questioned.

"Then they're to wait a further ten minutes before continuing with their jump. At this new sight each Battlestar is to calculate a jump to a set of predetermined coordinates in order to meet up with the rest of the fleet. But if they didn't encounter any Cylons then the jump will be performed by Raptors and we quarantine those elements of the fleet that are Cylon free so that we have two fleets…"

"And I take it you will then jump in twenty new ships to this new fleet every 33 minutes until we find the ship the Cylons are following", at Adamas nod, Tigh continued, rubbing his face "It seems to be the best plan we have but there's a problem with it". Before waiting for the question Tigh answered "What if every ship is being tracked?"

Adamas face was almost unreadable as its craggy lines set when he replied almost in a whisper "We prepare ourselves to make our final stand and let the civilian ships try to get to safety".

A sly grin split Tigh face "I thought as much".

**Battlestar Tigress, CIC Jump 152**

"Dradis Contacts. 5 Cylon Basestars on approach at 328 karom 250…launching Raiders eta 30 seconds until contact" Lieutenant Swaggart called out to the commander. Commander Marx was getting sick off this, no matter where they went the Cylons always followed, they split their fleet and still the Cylons followed, it was like a fracking record stuck on repeat. Before the Commander could give orders Swaggart continued "The Majestic Drift, Jupiter Sunrise and Virgon Runner are reporting various degrees of ftl trouble. Jupiter Sunrise needs a maximum of 5 minutes".

Marx knew that this was a killing blow "Tell them they have three. XO launch all Vipers, anyone with flight experience I want out there. Tactical prepare all dorsal weapon platforms and fire on the closest Basestar. Helm give me a full 172 degree dorsal turn, maximum speed and bring us on an intercept with the closest Basestar". In the CIC the crew got to work as Klaxons blared throughout the ship and the XO called everyone with flight experience to arms. Across the forward ventral and the rear dorsal aspect of this wounded Battlestar thrusters burst to life in perfect precision and were almost instantaneously at full thrust even as the main engines mounted on the stern of the ship were cut and a brief full thrust came from the bow thrusters. In a manoeuvre that would have broken the ship in two were it in a gravitated and atmospheric environment, here in the realm of deep space at the very edge of a solar system where the stars influence was reduced to trace levels the manoeuvre worked perfectly, the Battlestars forward speed was dramatically reduced even as the whole ship spun almost on its axis with a rotation of almost 25 degrees a second, by 40 degrees the bow thrusters were cut and the dorsal guns started belching tens of thousands of rounds into the path of the closest Basestar and its hastily deployed Raiders. Joining these rounds were dozens of Vipers which were being catapulted out of their launch tubes, only once they had been thrown clear of the Battlestar did they perform their own manoeuvres and come into line with their fellow pilots and start assembling in two groups at the side of the Battlestars rotation. By 86 degrees the forward ventral and rear dorsal thrusters were cut at the same time that the forward dorsal and rear ventral thrusters came into play at full thrust in order to stop the Battlestars rotation by the 172 degree mark.

Despite not being in a gravitated or atmospheric environment, the mighty Battlestar groaned and screamed under the stresses on her hull due to this sudden change in thrust. Sweat beaded and then dripped from Commander Marx eyebrow as he looked up under the red emergency lighting of the CIC, his hands in a vice like grip upon the information table and his body so solid against the G-forces that even the inertial dampeners struggled to deal with that a coroner would belief it to be frozen in rigormortis. A chant seemed to develop behind his lips at such a low level that none of the crew could hear, "Hold it together, hold it together, hold it together" and just as if she could hear him, Tigress replied by easing the sound of screaming that seemed to permeate throughout her structure.

It had to be now he knew, he couldn't wait any longer, "Helm, tactical…" he shouted over to the worried looking officers "once the manoeuvre is complete give me a full roll of the ship while firing all bow weapons into the central column of the closest Basestar". No sooner had he said this that the manoeuvre was complete in a total of 7.1 seconds that the bow guns started opening fire on the weakest part of the Cylon Basestar, the central column connecting the two hemispheres and the ship began its starboard roll with the ventral port thrusters and the dorsal starboard thrusters firing. The effect of this fire was soon realised as the first shots started to strike the Cylon Basestar which was rapidly trying to manoeuvre out of the way, but for every move they made the Tigress countered with smaller moves of her own while still maintaining her roll, the continuing shots carving out a circular furrow in the Basestars hull, the damage almost increasing exponentially as microfractures created by one strike were built upon by the next.

But the Cylons would not go down so easily, the other four Basestars rapidly accelerated into flanking positions on the Tigress and the Raiders started closing in on her outnumbered Vipers, then the missiles were fired at extreme range. Walls of flack went up from the point defences on the Tigress but she wasn't in an ideal position to deal with so many from her port side and dozens of missiles slipped through slamming into her armoured hull.

Bang, bang, bang. The effect on the crew in these lower levels was murderous, it was like being stuck in a metal barrel while someone is hitting it with a heavy lump of wood and knowing that any one of them could breach the hull and kill you instantly or even worse, kill them slowly in a thousand possible ways. But knowing that their survival depended on them doing their jobs and keeping the ship running sent them back to work. It was by this point that the hull gave way under a successive wave of tumultuous missiles in the same point. The hull burst inwards under the immense pressure only to be blasted back out into the deepest, darkest depths of space by a torrent of escaping air seeking to fill the void of space. Fires that were dying to spread their despair within the tight confines of the Battlestar were choked by such an excess of oxygen almost immediately. Hatches which had been left open were slammed shut under the force of escaping air, the combings warping under the impacts. Just before the last whisps of air were torn from the ship a kicking and desperately screaming marine was dragged to his fate, his screams dying in his lungs as he was flash frozen and dead within a few seconds of exiting the ship, there to drift lifeless in space for an eternity or until some gravitational body reached out to welcome him to its embrace.

The battle went on.

As if the fates were looking down upon Tigress in her hour of need and were aiming to maintain a balance in the universe the Cylon Basestar that had been targeted by Tigress underwent a profound transformation from striking warship to a smoking formation of debris two miles across and expanding. With such an obstacle out of the way the expected wave of relief that should have crashed over Commander Marx failed to come, there were still 4 Basestars left and they were intent upon Tigress destruction. "Helm full ahead ten kilometres then bring us starboard in a circling pattern five kilometres behind the Cylon Basestars and rotate the ship enough that we can bring our portside guns into play. XO have the assault Raptors deploy within the civilian fleet, they need to escort them away from the battle but keep close enough that we can intervene if necessary".

Getting to work interpreting his orders, changes started to take place faster than expected. With the Tigress coming back around in its orbit so that it was now facing the fleet 10 assault laden Raptors tore free of Tigress runways and started to speed towards the swiftly departing civilian fleet. A number of Raiders upon seeing these Raptors which they assessed as being of higher importance than the Vipers broke off their assaults on the Vipers and immediately pounced upon the Raptors. In a cacophony of shots and through umpteen rolls and counter rolls three Raptors were scratched from existence before a half wing of Vipers intercepted the attacking Raiders allowing the remaining Raptors to escape.

Despite the change in Tigress tactics, tactics which mirrored those used during the Battle of Leonis by the late Admiral Nagala. During that battle, Nagala had most of his ships start circling around a fixed point in space so that the Cylons had trouble targeting his ships while at the same time he could have all his ships focus their firepower on any Cylon stupid enough to come into the centre of the circle. However by using those tactics here without large numbers of Battlestars or support ships the Cylons found it more than easy to break through the perimeter as two Basestars managed to do. Marx was quick to respond "Helm, tighten the arc…bring us in a further kilometre and increase speed in…" Marx started noting down some quick calculations while monitoring the Basestars positions and Tigress already tightening orbit. "…5 seconds to four fifths thrust".

It took all the power available to the helm operator and the engineers to stop Tigress bucking of this increase in thrust that threatened to throw her out of her tight orbit. Just as Marx figured a third Basestar was attempting to break free of the centre but was seeming to hesitate as its hybrid was forced to adjust to Tigress change in path before calculating that they were in no danger and continued to break free. "Helm, full speed now. Break out in two and roll twenty degrees to port. XO target Alpha with all guns and fire on closest approach".

The Tigress was catapulted away from its orbital track and towards the escaping Basestar seemingly on course for an imminent collision. At such an awesome speed the kilometres separating the two ships slipped by in a couple of seconds with the Basestar fighting to get clear and firing hundreds of missiles towards the oncoming hammer that was Tigress, due to the speed the missiles slammed into Tigress harder than they normally would have done crushing her bow under a withering assault. The Tigress rolled and it was this roll that opened up a window for her as a path seemed to open up between the two hemispheres of the Basestar. The dorsal half of the bow crashed through one of the upper hemispheres arms causing hundreds of smaller explosions and the gunnery crew aboard Tigress opened fire carving a furrow so deep within the hull of the Basestar that by the time the pass was complete the Basestar seemed to split into two before more secondary explosions crushed all life within.

But this Basestar was to take one last punch at Tigress before she diminished in the annals of history, blazing brighter than a thousand suns one after the other three nuclear missiles blistered the dorsal hull of the Tigress fired from almost point blank range. The shockwave tore through the Tigress superstructure crushing the top three decks in places and shattering dozens of computer terminals in a shower of sparks. Hundreds died from the powerful X-rays and Gamma rays involved and many more were launched so hard into bulkheads and floors that bones were crushed under the impact. In the CIC, despite the reinforced shell surrounding them Marx still felt the full brunt as power surges burst forth from the consoles and a beam burst through the ceiling lancing through the tactical consoles and killing the operator.

It was thirty seconds before things started to calm down and the dradis cleared to the point where Marx could see that the rest of the fleet had jumped. A handful of pilots were streaming after the speeding Tigress closely followed by a large amount of Raiders and two of the three Basestars, the last one seeming to be dead in space. "XO, recall all Vipers and Raptors and get ready for jump…"

A voice called out "He's dead, sir".

Looking around the shattered room, Marx saw Colonel Finlay "Colonel recall our squadrons and prepare for jump".

Finlay was visibly shaken with a dozen visible cuts on his face and seemed to be cradling a shattered left arm, for a moment it seemed like he wouldn't move, but something snapped him and he answered "Aye sir" and oversaw the comm operator recall the squadrons while looking at the engineering terminal. "We've got some damage to the ftl drives…backups are kicking in. Well be ready in 20 seconds".

DC teams moved about the CIC putting out the handful of fires which were springing up and it seemed like the next second that the Tigress in all her battered, war torn glory jumped. Leaving behind the carcasses of fifty eight Vipers and twelve Raptors melted into slag by the nukes or torn to shreds by the bullets. Were Marx able to think clearly he would have been glad to have gotten away from the battlefield.

**Battlestar Galactica, Rendezvous Point Jump 153**

"Admiral, all groups have reported in…" Dee called out "…they were all attackedat 33 minute intervals".

Hanging his head in defeat, deep within his mind Adama was cursing the entire universe with all the words he could muster before looking up and saying "We're back to square one then. Did we lose anyone?"

It was a moment before Dee replied "32 Civilian ships, sir. The Light Cruisers Phoebe and Wolf, Gunstars Zeus Revenge and Grisholm, Missile Stars Harbinger, Herald and Jinx and the destroyer Retribution".

Tigh along with the rest of the CIC crew looked on aghast swearing at the amount of military ships lost. It was now that they had no more access to the treasure-trove of resources that the colonies had or the shipyards and ship graveyards that they were finally feeling the effects of losing just one ship never mind 8. But the news only got worse.

"The Battlestar Tigress is also reporting heavy damage throughout with major tylium fires spreading throughout her structure. They're currently running on backup generators and are having to abandon ship".

Looking Dee in the eyes, Adama ordered "Have Nemea dispatch salvage and rescue teams with orders to salvage whatever they can from Tigress and order Tigress to jettison her Tylium supplies if it's safe to do so", Adama knew that he couldn't let all the parts that made up Tigress go to waste, the same with the vast ammunition, medical and food supplies. "Colonel Tigh, I want damage reports when you have them. I'll be in my office".

"Admiral…" Lieutenant Gaeta said intercepting Adama "I have Panacea on the line. The Graystones wish to speak to you".

Feeling as if he might collapse at any moment and barely able to keep his eyes open, Adama just replied "Pipe it through to my office" before leaving the CIC.

**Battlestar Galactica, Main Meeting Room Jump 180**

"We're being tracked and I'm willing to bet it has something to do with them" an annoyed Colonel Tigh spoke to the room at large as he leaned on a desk his hands spaced widely upon it.

President Roslin's right eyebrow rose as she removed her glasses and stared at the usually inebriated Colonel, it was a stare that she had used many times in many classrooms and it was a stare that usually made the receiver feel as if he had done something wrong even if they hadn't. Tigh caught her stare and was made to quiver under its spell as Roslin asked "Them?"

"Those skinjobs, the Graystones".

"I thought we had been through all this. The Graystones helped us defend the Colonies against the Cylons…" the Admiral replied as he stared into a glass of water before taking a drink, the taste seeming to dilute the metallic bile taste in his mouth.

"Fat lot of good that did" Tigh muttered pushing himself back off the table and causing Adama to give him his own stare. Quite frankly Adama was too tired to deal with the kind of back and forth debate going on but he knew he had to because in the end it would be his decision.

"I'm not about to turn on the only allies we have without good reason…" Adama started to say before being cut off by Roslin.

"We might have to Admiral. I admire and respect everything the military has been doing for us but the truth is if these attacks continue then it will only be a matter of time before we lose everything".

"I know. What do you suggest, we attack the Graystones? Or we exile them?"

"We could exile them…" the President answered but Adama already had a reply ready.

"It wouldn't do us any good. You saw what happened when I split the fleet, every group was attacked..."

The Admiral was interrupted by the chirping of the telephone attached to the bulkhead beside the door. Picking up the phone, Adama listened for a moment before flipping a switch and putting the handset back in its holster before turning back to the room at large.

Cocking an eyebrow at him, Roslin spoke "Somehow I feel we have just been played. Is that you on the other end Doctor Graystone".

From the loudspeaker came the voice of Daniel Graystone, "It's me, Madame President".

Adama addressed the room at large, "I've already spoken to Zoe and I felt that you might be interested in what they have to say for themselves and Doctor Baltar I would like your professional opinion on what they say. Go ahead Daniel".

From the speaker Daniels voice flooded the room "I fully understand that right now you are all suspicious of us and I really can understand that and we intend to do anything we can to assuage any doubts as to our intentions".

"Why don't you try getting to the point Doctor" the President called out.

"Of course. We've been running some data and are currently in the process of assembling some apparatus in order to test out our theory. What we believe is happening is that the Cylons have planted subspace tracking devices within the fleet. The technology involved wouldn't be beyond them, it's something that we use in our resurrection technology…"

Doctor Baltar asked "Could they be tracking your resurrection tech?"

From the loudspeaker Zoe answered "We considered this twelve jumps ago and powered down all the tech involved, but the Cylons are still following us so it kind of rules that out as the answer".

"How do you intend to prove your theory?" Roslin asked.

"Right now we are assembling a device that should be able to pinpoint the location of any subspace tracking device whenever it sends a signal to the Cylons. We think the devices take about thirty minutes to charge themselves enough to send a micropulse through subspace to the Cylon Fleet".

Arms crossed, chin resting on his chest, Baltar nodded "It's plausible. There's a lot we don't know about subspace, there hasn't been another Artsunov since the invention of the jumpdrive and even his theories on subspace are incredibly complicated, but he did theorise that if it's possible to send solid matter through subspace instantaneously then it's more than possible to send a simple communication through it.".

"Then why can't we?" Saul asked.

"Don't think the fleet didn't try. The problem we had is that over more than a few thousand kilometres any signal breaks down significantly. The closest the scientists had to a possible way was by jumping comm buoys, everything else…the math was too complicated".

"This is all very interesting gentlemen…" the President broke in "…but right now it's irrelevant. Miss Graystone, how long will it be before the device is ready and what are the chances that the Cylons will detect its use?"

"Give us another three jumps to finish piecing it together and maybe another jump to calibrate it" Zoe replied before handing over to Daniel.

Daniel continued "Chances are it won't work perfectly. Doctor Baltar mentioned Professor Artsunov, Artsunov believed that there were different levels or types if you prefer of subspace which due to our own discoveries we are willing to accept at least for now, which is why we are going to try a kind of broad spectrum analysis. The chances that the Cylons will discover the device is slim at best. The device will be similar to a camera in that it will only be able to receive and not transmit".

Roslin rubbed her neck saying almost pleading "I would love to believe you Doctor. But right now, trust is hard to come by…"

"I understand, this isn't the first time where we've been painted as the enemy. All I'm asking is for this one chance, that's it. Allow us to try to prove our innocence" Daniel would have said more but he knew that sometimes it was best if in the end you allowed a person to come to a decision on their own.

Just like that the President came to her own "Admiral, are any of your marines technical specialists?"

Considering this Adama answered "There are some. But if you're suggesting sending them to Panacea to monitor the Graystones I would also suggest sending along a couple of technicians from Nemea".

Nodding, Roslin spoke "Doctor Graystone, we will allow you to continue under supervision by an armed detachment. This is non-negotiable".

There was a brief pause before Daniel said "We can live with that, I suggest at least one of the technicians you send is specialised in ftl theory and a reasonable mathematician".

"I hope youre right, Doctor" Roslin added.

"So do I", there was a deep sincerity in Daniels voice as he signed off.

Flicking the switch to end the call, Adama turned back to the room saying "I'll have the necessary personnel dispatched once we exit the next jump and I'll see about buying us some time".

Too tired to so much as raise an eyebrow, Roslin looked over the rim of her glasses at him "Buying some time, Admiral?"

Looking at her, his craggy face like a cliff face and reflecting his own exhaustion Adama answered "Just be grateful some of Argos Squadron survived".

**Battlestar Galactica, Admiral Adamas Quarters-office Jump 181**

Three bangs rang through the homely oasis of calm that was Bill Adamas combined office and living space jarring him from his welcome sleep. Realising what must have happened and straightening his glasses, Adama called "Enter". A moment later the locking bar on the hatch retracted and the hatch was opened admitting Colonel Tigh and Captain Cain, Tigh moving to one of the chairs and literally collapsing into it while Cain stood before the Admirals desk and maintained a salute until Adama waved it off "Have a seat Captain. It's been a long time".

Cain couldn't help but agree, he had served aboard Valkyrie as her senior deck chief when she was under Adamas command and had left to begin training as a pilot at the same time that Adama was relieved of command and recalled to Picon Fleet Headquarters to face the admiralty. Sitting down Cain was face to face with the only father figure he'd ever had. A silence descended on the room as the two officers looked at each other with expressions that seemed to break down the rank that separated them, a silence that was finally broken by a loud snore echoing throughout the room as an exhausted Colonel Tigh against his own will descended into a deep and satisfying sleep. Seeing Tigh like that Adama snorted saying "He deserves it".

Nodding, Cain asked "Sir, with all due respect…"

"Why are you here?" Adama didn't wait before continuing "Right now David, we are facing the biggest crisis to ever face our civilization. I'm sure you've seen it, were losing our pilots faster than we can afford to, I can't blame you or any of the pilots, you're all exhausted but you're all uncoordinated".

Cain could see what was coming, all he could hope for was that he was wrong but in his current state he couldn't hold back "Don't do this. None of the surviving Argonauts myself included are ready for it, the last Argonauts fully qualified were Major Fermi and Thumper. The rest of us…while we have been trained and are suitably qualified, we lack the proper experience that you gain as a CAG".

Adama felt for him like few other Admirals or Commanders could, he knew that by carrying out this order he would be in effect turning Cain and the remaining members of Argos Squadron into one of the Raiders biggest targets but he was desperate, the fleet was desperate. "I don't want to, I've been putting this off as long as possible but you and the rest of Argos Squadron are the only ones trained and qualified to do what we need. I can't ask Apollo or any of the other CAGs, it's bad enough controlling one squadron. You at least know what to expect, you aren't as tired as most of the other Pilots and you have shown that you have the intuition needed for the role at Leonis. You must understand that I am out of options, I have to do this".

Cain felt that reservoir of bile-which came with lack of sleep and threatening to overwhelm him these past few days-well up inside of him as he looked away and then towards the desk in front of him, a desk crowded with the various reports that came with Adamas job, reports that held many names now lost to the pages of history and a lone black box. As he closed his pained, red-rimmed eyes for a few seconds he heard Adama say "I'm activating the Nexus protocol, you will receive whatever aid you require and I expect whatever recommendations you have on my desk as soon as possible".

As the reality of the situation fully settled on Cain, a reality that he desperately wanted to avoid, he started to claw his way through his quicksand-like thoughts and concluded "the protocol requires both myself and the rest of Argos Squadron to be familiar with the flight patterns of every pilot we will be flying with, which poses a bit of a problem in the current situation. Any recommendations are going to be extremely limited…I need to break up the squadron at least temporarily and have each Argonaut assigned to a different squadron".

Nodding at this while also writing it down so as not to forget, Adama said "I was hoping to avoid that, it seems like Vigilante and Argos have been working well together".

Replying, Cain said "That's mainly because most of Vigilante was at one time considered for enrolment in Argos Squadron, some even got as far as the reaping, a few other squadrons in the fleet were like this but for various reasons the pilots were rejected. Take Starbuck for instance, a rare pilot possessing uncanny natural skill and a sharp mind, she's been considered at least five times but she's always been let down by her rebellious side".

"She mentioned to me earlier (earlier in this case being five days ago) that she trained you".

"She still bragging about that…" a chuckle passed between them and was quickly lost in the moment as it seemed to sap more energy than either one wanted to give "Yeah, the academy realised a long time ago that Starbucks skills were invaluable, so they stuck me with her at Delphi…" Cain stopped himself before he continued to say _She almost got me killed three times_ when he quickly remembered Adamas deceased son Zac. A quiet moment of reflection passed between them with Tigh's sonorous snore filling the silence before Cain continued "Ill also need a secure channel with the rest of Argos".

"Done. Now what can we do right now".

"You need to double the amount of food for all pilots…in fact make that for everyone in the fleet, we need the extra energy now we are being deprived of sleep. I also need you to ground at least a third of the pilots for 8 jumps and get them to sleep…"

"I cant do that, were deprived of…"

Any other officer would seriously reconsider even thinking about interrupting the Admiral but Cain still smarting from the position he had just been put in went ahead "if you don't do it then you'll have no pilots left within two or three days. Four hours and you will have over a hundred fresher pilots at which point you need to ground the next third and so on. It isn't going to be easy and you're going to lose a lot of pilots but it's the only way. You're also going to need to get those pilots that are grounded to take sleeping tablets", while it may seem strange having severely sleep deprived pilots to take sleeping tablets when they would already gladly pass into slumber at a moment's notice, it was necessary due to the ftl jumping, only a powerful sleeping aid would allow you to sleep through the distorted imbalance of a jump. Adama finally seemed to accept this and while he wrote it down Cain fought his way through his own memories of what he was taught back at the Academy "You also need to set aside a separate team in the CIC dedicated to giving me information when I need it, at least half of whom need to be more than familiar with Viper combat…" thinking Cain said "There's currently four Argonauts in the medbay, two of them won't be able to return to active duties due to injuries sustained…"

"How bad?" Adama asked.

"Yuri has a shattered wrist, he's looking at at least two months off duty, Cavendish on the other hand is a totally different matter". At the questioning look upon Adamas face Cain continued "She has a broken vertebrae, Cottles pinned it and she's in a body cast and is expected to make at least a partial recovery over the next few months but whether she will fly again…" Both knew that an injury as severe as that would be near impossible to fully recover from, chances were good that she would never fly again. "I suggest for the time being having both of them on that team. They know exactly the kind of information that I'll need and when I'll need it".

"We might have some trouble with Cavendish but I'll ask the chief if it will be possible to set her up with an interface to the rest of the group" Adama put in.

"We will need it, she has a sharp mind, sharper than most in fact. That's about it for now, anything else isn't possible right now but I need you to understand that all this is, is a delaying action, unless you find out how the Cylons are tracking the fleet then within 5 days we won't be able to put up so much as a CAP". Standing up, his bones aching as he did, Cain motioned to the small black box sitting on the desk asking "For me?"

Nodding, his blue eyes melding with Cain's emerald, Adama answered "A Fleet Air Marshall can't be expected to remain a Captain and yet command Majors".

Reaching across the table and opening it, Cain extracted the golden pins of a major and removing the Captains pins from his flightsuit collar, depositing these in the box, he pinned the new epaulettes to his collar and saluting the Admiral asked "permission to be dismissed, Admiral?"

There was a certain coldness to his tone that the Admiral caught, he knew why it was there and he knew that he couldn't hold it against Cain, a line had been crossed and because of his new rank and role in the fleet the Cylons would be gunning for Cain and the rest of Argos squadron harder than ever before, so he let it slip as he returned Cain's salute replying "Granted". With no more words Cain strode out of the cosy office which now felt like the coldest room in the universe, closing the hatch behind him and blocking Tigh's snoring from the outside corridor.

Taking off his glasses and chucking them against the stack of papers on his desk where they skid across Adama felt such a hate for himself but knowing that he had to do it. Wiping his red rimmed and scratchy eyes Adama spoke "I had to do it Saul. The fleet is falling apart".

Suddenly the snoring from Tigh stopped and he lifted his head, "I know, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. Personally I think you're lucky he didn't punch you" without looking at the clock, the time was now so well built into Tigh "its 26 minutes. I'll be in the CIC". With that Colonel Tigh followed Cain's departure with his own leaving Adama to reflect on his thoughts.

"I would have welcomed that punch", the aged Admiral said to the silence.

**Battlestar Galactica, Main Pilot Briefing Room Jump 181**

Standing at the podium in front of the assembled Pilots that made up the combined airwings of Galactica, Major Cain looked up at his fellow pilots, most of whom had fallen asleep in the quiet room and those that hadn't being too tired to so much as talk as sleep sung to them. Taking a gulp of ice cold water from a glass, the coldness seeming to refresh Cain somewhat, Cain began "If I can have your attention". Those pilots that were awake elbowed those next to them in order to wake them up and pilots shifted in their seats so as to become more uncomfortable, comfort seeming to work against them.

"I've just spoken to Admiral Adama and he is now putting the Nexus Protocol into effect…" those members of Argos Squadron broke into bouts of swearing while the other pilots looked on bemused.

Apollo, leaning forward asked "What's the Nexus Protocol?"

Answering him, Cain said "The Nexus Protocol means that as of right now Argos Squadron is to be broken up and the pilots spread throughout the fleet in order to better coordinate the squadrons…"

"It's too late for Nexus and you know it" Poppa called out.

"It's too late for a lot of things but we can make it work. You seem to be forgetting that we were trained to expect not to have enough time to get to know each of the squadrons well be flying with. We won't be able to grade each pilot and assign them to where they're needed but we will be able to better coordinate the squadrons. I'll be assigning you to different squadrons at the end of this meeting and I've had a secure frequency set up for our use".

"So just like that we are being broken up. Doesn't the Admiral realise our two squadrons work well together?" Skulls asked.

"He does, but right now the rest of the fleet's squadrons are unable to coordinate with one another effectively and we are losing far too many ships because of this".

Lee, leaning forward in his seat asked "Why can't we just use pilots that are already in those other squadrons?"

It was Kara that answered him "It wouldn't work Lee. Pilots are already struggling, imagine how bad it will be for them if they have to deal with all the extra information".

"Starbucks right, Argos Squadron has training and experience with fleet-wide Squadron management that we can fall back on. It has to be us", looking around the room as others seemed to accept this, Cain delivered the next bit of news "I have also been promoted to Fleet Air Marshall and will be overseeing the Fleets squadrons from Vigilante, Lee, you'll still be in charge of the Squadron but time to time I'll be giving you orders". Seeing the time on the back wall, "25 minutes people. Dismissed. Apollo, Starbuck could you stay behind along with Argos".

The rest of the pilots filed out of the room, each touching a black and white photo while passing leaving Argos squadron, Apollo, Starbuck and Cain behind. Cain first gave Argos squadron their orders before dismissing them and turning to Apollo and Starbuck.

"The reason I asked you two to stay behind is that eventually the Cylons are going to see the excess of comm traffic coming from my Viper and they're going to divert their attention my way. I hate to do this but I'm going to need both of you on my wing, especially you Kara. This isn't any slight on your abilities Lee but Kara trained me, she knows how I fly and is usually able to anticipate how I'll move".

"I understand", Lee answered "but why me?"

"You're a solid pilot Lee, maybe not as unpredictable as Kara but you know the book by heart".

"And we can say no?" Kara asked, to which Cain nodded, "I'm in and so is Lee". Lee looked at her "Like you were going to say no".

**Medstar Panacea, Starboard Maintenance Bay Bravo Jump 190**

In the centre of the maintenance bay, Doctor Graystone stepped back from a large construction of wires, fibre-optic cables and silicon wafers and looked down on his newest construction.

"Well Daniel, it's the ugliest creation you have ever conceived…" Cyrus Xander, his long time friend and colleague announced getting a few snorts from those around him, "Lets just hope it works as advertised".

"It'd better, its cost us a resurrection ship (Snapdragron Class freighter-Graystones own three)". Stepping past a collection of spare parts littering the ground around them, Daniel stooped over his daughter Zoe who was curled up in a corner of the room covered in a red blanket and in a deep sleep. Touching her shoulder, Daniel said "Zoe, its ready".

With a slight shake, Zoe awoke to the room asking "It's done?"

"Yes or at least we hope so".

While Daniel helped Zoe up, Cyrus walked past the marine guard and the various technicians sent by Admiral Adama and picked up the wall mounted phone contacting the CIC.

**Battlestar Galactica, CIC Jump 190**

"Admiral, we've just received a message from the Medstar Panacea" Lieutenant Gaeta announced to Admiral Adama, "they report that the subspace detector is ready and is ready to be initiated".

Looking up at the information table monitor showing the countdown (t-minus 3 minutes 52 seconds) Adama asked "What's the opinion of our technicians?"

Looking down at the board in his hands, Gaeta answered "A lot of it was beyond them but they are reasonably sure that it will only work as a receiver but if it doesn't are ready to switch it off instantly".

Letting out a breath, Adama ordered "inform the fleet to ready for an immediate jump ahead of the cycle and inform the President that well be turning on the device momentarily and have a message sent to Panacea telling them to switch on the device in 1 minute".

"Yes, sir", Gaeta moved over to the wireless console and between himself and Dee started getting the word out.

Colonel Tigh, moving round to the other side of the information table mirrored Adamas own thoughts as he said "Lets just hope it isn't a trap. I still don't trust them, Bill".

"You probably never will. But, we are in the same boat. I don't know who the Cylons want dead more, us or the Graystones".

"Humph, Fracking skinjobs can kill each other for all I care".

The minute soon passed with the various Viper squadrons being launched from across the fleet, it was obvious that some ships would be slow to jump yet again, most likely those that were designed without jumpdrives that were currently having to utilise a Tugs ftl. Dee activated a conference call between the Galactica, the Medstar Panacea and Colonial One and then the activation of the subspace detector was upon them.

"_Turning on the device now", Daniel announced._ A handful of seconds passed before Daniel said _"Getting no readings yet. Chances are the tracking devices go off at a certain time. Well keep monitoring"._

Gaeta announced "No new dradis sightings, Admiral".

Adamas heart was beating faster than he wanted as he stood there, his breathing ragged as the tension in the room built, his eyes never leaving the dradis monitor".

"1 minute", Gaeta called out.

Time seemed to drag on forever, would it work, Adama not one for religion started silently praying that it would, the fleet had nothing left, they couldn't keep on running like this and still survive.

"_It works!" _Daniel shouted in delight as the device picked up multiple subspace microbursts throughout the fleet at t-minus 45 seconds and then the delight seemed to fade from his voice and in a graver voice he continued _"Oh lords…there's trackers on the Battlestars Defiant, Hades, Valkyrie, Galactica, Red Blood, Yokahama, Scorpion, marinestars Hannibal and Annaxander"._

The names were like a death sentence for the fleet, but in a way they made sense as Adama muttered "Every military ship that was in active service", asking out loud "Doctor, can you give us a better idea of where to look for them?"

"I don't know…I'll get back to you next jump".

"Dradis Contacts!" Gaeta called out as a dozen alarms went off. But at least now they knew how they were being tracked.

**Battlestar Galactica, CIC Jump 199**

Following the President into the CIC, Gaius Baltar was met by an exhausted Felix Gaeta "Ah, Doctor Baltar, I was hoping to get your help with some jump calculations".

Nodding his head, Gaius not one to feather his own boat too often answered "I think you've been doing an excellent job Lieutenant but I would be more than happy to lend my expertise. Madam President if you'll excuse me". But the President failed to acknowledge him, caught up in her own conversation with Admiral Adama as he informed her how he had crew going throughout every modern military ship searching for the tracking devices.

Gaeta set up Gaius with a console and filled him in on his current work before leaving Gaius to it while he went off to rest.

For fifteen minutes, Gaius worked at finishing the jump calculations before Gaeta came back and after looking through them sent them off to Dee. Leaning back in the chair a soft touch seemed to spread from his right shoulder before slipping around and onto his chest, fingernails digging in as it did so, Caprica (don't call her that). Nibbling on his ear as she rested her blonde head next to his, his incredibly sexy seductress whispered, "Look at them Gaius, they search and search and yet they don't even know what it is they are looking for. It could be right in front of Adama and the President and they wouldn't even see it".

Keeping his voice low, Gaius replied "What I don't understand is why Valiant doesn't have one".

Giggling and moving to the other ear, she replied "Maybe it did but it was destroyed. It won't be long and you will all be destroyed", changing the subject as quickly as she changed moods, Caprica asked "Remember the last time you were in this room?"

Shuddering at the thought, Gaius replied "How can I forget, I can still taste Doral's blood whenever I think about it", a few drops had been blasted into Gaius open mouth.

"It isn't just the memory and the taste that remain, there's still blood on the dradis monitor". With a kiss on his cheek, she snaked her fingers away and disappeared from view leaving Gaius staring at the few drops of blood dried into the screen above the information table.

As he dropped his eyesight he saw something he saw once before back in his apartment. "Mr Gaeta" he called out to the Tactical officer who came up to see him, a clipboard in his hand. "What's that device at the bottom of the dradis monitors above the information table?"

Turning to look at it and realising he didn't know what the circular device actually did, Gaeta replied "I don't actually know Doctor, it was installed when…" and then the cubit dropped as he remembered Doral installing it months ago, "Admiral…"

**Battlestar Galactica, CIC Jump 202**

"…Admiral, scratch that, we are missing one ship. It's the Olympic Carrier, sir".

**Cylon Occupied Space**

Drifting through space like an ancient comet seemingly lifeless and uncaring of all around it, a lone mark two viper spun along its axis as it had been doing now for 2 minutes. No fleet would come to this stricken Vipers aid, the Colonial Fleet was lightyears away and why would they bother to take the risk when there hadn't been a whisper of contact from the mangled shell that was the Vipers hull. So bad was the damage to this ship that the entire portside wing had been torn asunder, the portside engine was cracked down the middle and the other two engines were lifeless ghosts and the nose of the once mighty Viper was crushed beyond all repair and gone was the canopy that had once been the lifeline of the pilot against dangerous levels of radiation. This ship was no longer a threat to the Cylon horde, their Basestars and Raiders moving on to other far more important matters. How could they know that they had made a vital mistake.

Defying the laws of celestial mechanics, inside the cockpit of this stricken Viper there was movement when there shouldn't have been any. An arm stretched out flicking a switch on one of the various consoles and a helmet enclosed head rotated and peered at a distance flight of Raiders as they continued on their unknown track. "Fracking Toaster bastards! You couldn't even kill me right" Lieutenant Mark "Poppa" Prius screamed into the darkness for all the good that it would do. He was alone and now he would die alone but only when his oxygen ran out. His fist belched forward like a bullet from a gun slamming into a panel by the side of his console once, twice, three times before he started to regain his composure as reason took hold once again. Further destruction of the Viper would do no good, it wouldn't change his position, but he could still take control.

His hands moved towards the chin of his helmet, fingers and thumbs moving into position ready and tightening on the clasp ready to present himself to the vacuum of space, it was a harsh choice, to end his life this way, but it would be his. Just as he took his last breath a movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. "What the…" his voice trailed off in horror and his fingers retracted as he focused on an object isolated from him by at least a dozen kilometres. At this range it was barely larger than an oversized dot, but what piqued Poppas interest was the obvious sign of a bright engine flume. So far the only Cylon Vessels seen to possess engines such as these were Raiders and Heavy Raiders and this was obviously too large to be one of those as he recognized smaller flares next to it as possibly belonging to a swarm of Cylon Raiders. It would have been extremely difficult, in fact next to impossible to judge the size and distance of the object if not for those Raiders as they passed the object then circled round it like a pack of Vultures. Due to the manner of the Raiders flight it became fairly obvious to Poppa that they were circling around a prize of war, most likely to be a civilian ship due to the drive configuration not matching any current military ship in the Colonial Fleet. All Poppa could mutter was "Poor Bastards…but why aren't you dead yet?"

As he watched, he started to realise that he wasn't dead yet and while he still clung to life he still had a chance to at least take some Cylons with him if he could get into position and then a thought flashed to the forefront of his mind, his head snapping to the star shaped hulls of the Basestars as he realised he also had a chance of returning to the fleet but only if the damage to his Viper could be patched, which in its current condition was a big if. Keeping what power levels he could find to a minimum (which wasn't hard) he ran a full checklist of what was functioning and what he would have to go eva in order to fix. He just prayed he had the time and that the Lords were looking down on him…

**Unknown Location, Cylon Occupied Space 10 minutes later**

"Whatever you do, do not fracking look this way!" Poppa muttered as he pulled himself out of his cockpit and griping tight at the fractured edges of his viper, he pulled himself along her body and to the now cold engines. Grunting under the strain, his faceplate misting over with the exertion until the suits inbuilt air conditioning, Poppa struggled to rope his gun-belt around a pipe before buckling himself to it. He knew that the dangers of working without some kind of safety harness were brutal to the extreme, he didn't intend being turned into some Higgins (First Picon male in space and the first to go for an unintentional spacewalk never to return). Suddenly Poppa burst out laughing as he thought of Higgins and how bad his luck must have been and then the reality of his own situation set in "two bloody peas in a pod…alright what do we have?"

Pulling a rolled up toolkit from inside his waistcoat (the piece of rubber that covers shoulders on spacesuit) and slapping one edge of it on the hull before unrolling it, magnets sewn into the material holding it safely in place. Pulling a screwdriver from the kit Poppa got to work removing the panel covering the engines before sending it sailing off into space. Clicking on his helmet lamp Poppa got his first good luck at the insides of the engine before bursting out laughing again "Gods damn if Im lucky". Within the hull, standing testament to the strength of the Viper design were two virtually intact engines, the starboard and the main. True there was some damage, pipes that had been holed by passing bullets, wires that were hanging loose and a crushed release valve. But looking around the two engines Poppa realised that he could cannibalise one to fix the other and judging by the conditions of the two engines he would sacrifice the main, it wouldn't be pretty and it would take time but he knew he could do it. He wasn't out of the fight yet.

**Unknown Location, Cylon Occupied Space 30 minutes later**

Strapping himself back into his seat, Poppa double checked the board, red was still the main colour but he could live with that, now to find out if his patches had worked. "Okay baby, make me the luckiest man alive" flipping the switches to start the starboard engine Poppa almost creamed himself at the vibrations permeating his seat as the Viper was brought back from the precipice of death, his shouts of joy filling his helmet. Firing what thrusters he had left and using small bursts from the engine he broke the Viper out of its spin before getting a good look at the Dradis.

The Cylons were still here along with the Colonial ship, raiders were few and far between with the vast majority being docked on the Basestars and those flying CAP being on the far side of the fleet. On closer inspection Poppa noticed a slight blurring effect on his dradis at the location of the Colonial ship and believed that was her spooling up although he couldn't be sure until he got closer since he lacked any other functioning form of sensor. In his head he flipped a coin and brought his Viper onto an interception course with the Colonial ship and started to build up a great deal of speed before cutting his engine and turning off his headlamp. Away he coasted towards the Colonial ship and the nearby Cylon fleet, his energy signature more than minimal so that if the Cylons did detect his ship on dradis it would be merely a blip, a piece of debris.

Seconds turned into minutes, Poppas heartbeat racing ninety to the dozen. Ahead the shape of the Colonial ship increasing in size. Daring to click on the dradis for a quick sweep, Poppa saw the blurring effect of the Colonial Ship becoming more substantial, any second now and they would be ready to jump, he couldn't wait anymore and at least he could die trying. Powering up his engine and the rest of his handful of systems the Viper burst forward on a single plume of white hot fumes. Using the thrusters on his starboard wing, Poppa struggled to pull the decrepit Viper into a head on approach to the bow of the ship. Blasting towards him the Cylon Raiders were finally reacting to his presence but it was too late for them now. Firing his starboard cannon, Poppa smiled as he saw dozens of burning metal shells cascade towards the small hanger cargo doors of the Colonial ship. The hull while resilient under certain circumstances offered little resistance to these armour piercing rounds. Pumping more and more of them into the hull, clouds of white gas shot out of the hundreds of holes marring the hanger door, the gas turning quickly to a mist of ice crystals as it emerged into space.

The gun running dry and knowing that a jump was imminent Poppa took one last breath and sped forward with all the thrust that his one engine could give him, the distance snapping past in seconds. At the last possible moment he used all the thrust he could get out of his starboard wing to spin turn his viper a hundred and eighty degrees, the starboard thruster superheating the hanger door and softening it up for the rest of the Viper crashing into it rear first in the next instance. The impact throwing Poppa against his webbing, torrents of air rushing past him and his head momentarily being torn apart as with a bright white flash the Colonial Ship jumped.

**Colonial Fleet Jump 202**

His shoulders screaming in pain at the abuse they had received from his safety harness cutting into them and his head pounding with blood from the sudden deceleration the Viper had went through, Poppa couldn't help but burst out laughing at his fate "I fracking did it…oh Gods I bloody did it". Unclipping his harnass, his hands shaking with the shock of what he had just been through added to the sudden crash that comes when the adrenaline high evaporates, Poppa belatedly realised that he needed to turn off all power to his crashed wreck. Flipping the master switch he just hoped that his tylium tanks hadn't burst before standing up in the cockpit.

Had there been an atmosphere in the hanger, Poppa would have heard a distant clanging grow louder and louder, the sound echoing off the bulkheads, but in its current vacuum-less state sound was unable to travel except through direct contact. No sooner had Poppa stood up flashes of golden sparks were kicked up from the Vipers hull plating on his left hand side. Snapping his head in that direction, Poppa saw dozens of flashing rounds come flying his way and in the distance a red strobing light connected to a tall chrome body. Rounds kept on bursting from the Cylon Centurions right forearm forcing Poppa to drop back down into his seat keeping as low as possible so as to avoid the shots.

"Think, think…" Poppas mind was a mess, despite everything he had been through he wasn't ready to face a centurion in direct combat. But he wanted to live more than anything and staying inside the cockpit of a wrecked Viper was not an option, the Centurion would be on him in seconds. Pulling his sidearm free of its holster and pulling his emergency kit from behind him, Poppa started firing blind out of the Viper and into the direction of the Centurion before launching himself over the opposite side of the Viper, his jump being met with a continued onslaught of bullets.

Slipping on the floor when his feet touched it, Poppa gritted his teeth in pain as he landed flat on his helmet before rolling onto his back and pulling himself against the crumpled side of the Viper. Slipping the emergency Kits strap over his head and left shoulder, Poppa started to feel the Centurions march through the metal floor. Judging by the strength of the vibration he guessed he had maybe fifteen feet between him and the Centurion. Glancing around the dimly lit hanger, Poppas eyes passed over the wrecked shape of the hanger door before he dragged his gaze back to the gaping hole. "Not like I've bloody got anything to lose".

Launching himself forward while firing behind him at the same time that the Centurion was firing more closely at him, Poppa covered the 10 feet to the hole in next to no time although to him it felt like a lifetime. Putting as much power into his straining legs as he could he made a hearty dive through the opening but not before a bullet tore through his suit and left arm. Oxygen was torn through the two holes (shot was a through and through) along with blood that froze on contact with the vacuum of space but Poppa was free now. Free and drifting away from the Colonial Ship and the Centurion it held.

Twisting in space, Poppa wrapped his hand tight around the two holes almost screaming at the cold. Already his left hand was cold and about ready to numb, but gritting his teeth at the pain Poppa reached into his emergency kit pulling free his wireless and turning it on.

"Krypter, Krypter, Krypter. Pilot down. I need help. This is Poppa I need emergency pick-up…" realising that help may never come Poppa screamed into his helmet mike connected (wirelessly) to the wireless "Gods helm me...Krypter, Krypter, Kry…"

"_Poppa Boomer, we see you. Were on approach right now. ETA thirty seconds"._

As amazing as it was to Poppa that he had gotten a response he realised that twenty seconds might be too long, air was still escaping through the bullet holes in his suit and he was quickly losing feeling in his left arm and was feeling a strain in his chest "Boomer, I have a breached suit, losing air fast. Do not approach COLONIAL SHIP. There are Centurions aboard". In his spiralling motion Poppa caught a glimpse of a Raptor and two Vipers in the distance rapidly approaching him. His left arm was now so cold and so deprived of oxygen that his thumb froze in position over the wireless.

The Raptor started to spin into position near him while the two Vipers continued onwards at the same time that Poppa was starting to take raspy breaths. By the time it started to open the hatch he was out of air and his body was so cold it was starting to shut down. As the open Raptor closed on him, an officer leaning out of the open hatch Poppa was forced to go against all his insticts and breath out or risk his lung bursting, something that had been drummed into everyone working in space since time immemorial. His vision went dark long before he reached that outstretched hand.

**Battlestar Galactica, 2 minutes earlier**

"You know, truth is…all this has me feeling more alive than in years" an exhausted, unshaven Tigh said to Adama as they stood at the hatch to the CIC ready to go to his rack.

A smile creased his friend's craggy, equally unshaven face as he replied "You look that way too. It's good to see you without the cup in your hand".

Grumbling, Tigh answered as if trying to shrug off his alcoholism "Ahh, don't start".

Continuing, Bill said "And I know there's a whole lot of people aboard this ship that wish you weren't feeling as good as you are", a stronger smile with a mixture of mirth filled his voice as he finished causing a grumble of laughter by Saul.

"If the crew doesn't hate the XO then he isn't doing his job. Besides, I've gotta make the old man look good".

Without missing a beat, Bill said "I always look good".

Turning to leave, Saul tried to get in the last word by saying "You wanna take a look in the mirror".

"Seriously", Adama replied having missed these bouts of conversation with Tigh over the past week.

"Sir".

Bill seemed to summon up everything perfectly when he said "It's one thing to push the crew but it's another to break them". A beeping started behind Adama in the CIC when he finished.

"Dradis Contact!" Lieutenant Gaeta called out "Bearing 348 karom 120. One ship…Getting recognition signal", there was a deep shock in Gaeta's voice and appearance at the sudden appearance as he announced "It's the Olympic Carrier, Sir".

Colonel Tigh, passing Dee asked "Is that confirmed?"

"It's confirmed, sir".

Tigh muttered "Thank the Gods" as he looked up at the dradis monitor.

The Admiral however, had a feeling in his gut that something wasn't right, the Olympic Carrier should surely have been destroyed "Action stations…" Tigh looked like he had been kicked in the gonads as he looked back towards his commanding officer who continued "…Put the fleet into Condition One. I want all Vipers manned and ready but keep them in the tubes…"

While Adama was giving out orders, Tigh picked up the phone, setting it for fleetwide and ordering condition one be set. Adama continued to Gaeta "Mr Gaeta, restart the clock, 33 minutes".

"I hope you're wrong", Tigh said to Adama as the orders were carried out to the blaring of the alarm.

"Turning back to him, Adama replied "So do I, so do I".

Adama asked "Who do we have flying CAP".

Checking the flight logs against ship positions with Dee, Gaeta replied "The closest we have to the Olympic Carrier is Apollo, Starbuck and Boomer. I will take them 4 minutes to reach her. It will be another minute before Defiant's CAP reaches them and up to 2 minutes longer for the rest".

"Divert our CAP".

**Outskirts of Colonial Fleet**

**Galactica CAP en route to Olympic Carrier**

"Olympic Carrier, Olympic Carrier this is Raptor 478, Callsign Boomer. I have you in distant visual contact, please respond on this line over", Boomer called out on the wireless as her flight approached the still distant Olympic Carrier.

"_Raptor 478, this is Olympic Carrier, we have you on dradis. Thank the Lords of Kobol, you don't know how glad we are to see you"._

"Roger that Olympic Carrier. May I ask you about your whereabouts".

"_We had trouble with our ftl drives. Took us almost 3 hours to fix"._

Dee came on line one ordering Boomer to ask how they had avoided the Cylons.

"_You got me, they were closing on us when the rest of you were jumping. I thought we were goners when our cargo bay was hit but they suddenly broke off. The Gods must have been watching out for us". _The Olympic Carriers commanding officer then continued to inform Boomer haw he had a Doctor Amorach on board that needed to inform the President of a traitor in their midst.

While Boomer looked shocked at this, in the back Crashdown working the ECM board noticed something and called forward "Boomer, I'm picking up a Dradis Ghost accelerating ahead of the Olympic Carrier separate signal in the background…isolating it now…it's on channel three".

The voice of Poppa filled the cockpit _"…er, Krypter, Krypter. Pilot down. I need help. This is Poppa I need emergency pick-up…Gods help me...Krypter, Krypter, Kry…"_

Shocked by the sound of a fellow Pilot she had thought dead, it was only when Admiral Adama ordered her to initiate contact with Poppa that she responded.

**Battlestar Galactica, CIC**

Adama was having to keep his head on two conversations at once, one between Boomer and Poppa and the other between Gaius Baltar and the President (Gaius warning to shut off all contact with the Olympic Carrier due to fears that they were uploading a new virus to the fleet).

Adama spoke to the President "I'm willing to support Doctor Baltar in this, especially due to Lieutenant Prius warning". Adama then turned to Tigh and ordered "Signal light only and have Boomer divert to pick up Poppa".

While Tigh had Dee send the orders to Boomer, Gaeta lowered his headset saying "I've got General on the line. He wants you to have Boomer ask for Corporal Ramos, Private Stanton and Private Fuller and ask them what their security codes are".

Nodding at this, Adama had Dee send the message to Boomer.

**Outskirts Colonial Fleet**

**Boomer**

Flashing the messages to the Olympic Carrier, Boomer then turned the Raptor into an approach on what could now be seen as the drifting form of Poppa while Crashdown evacuated the oxygen from the Raptor and opened the hatch to the outside void.

Reaching out while hooked into the Raptor by a harness, Crashdown managed to get a grip on what seemed to be a lifeless Lieutenant Prius before exerting a small amount of force to bring the drifting Pilot safely into the Raptors hold. As soon as Poppa had passed into the ship, Boomer started closing the doors by flicking a switch before moving them off a safer distance from the Olympic Carrier. It seemed to take forever for warm air to fill the bay while Apollo and Starbuck moved to intercept the Olympic Carrier who were so far failing to follow orders.

Even after breaking wireless contact to warn the Olympic Carrier to hold where they were there was still no response to which Apollo asked Boomer "Are you still using the same channel?"

Replying Boomer said "Yeah, it's as if no-one's at home".

Apollo was liking this less and less, he could already see the obvious damage to the Carriers cargo hold and a handful of Viper fragments around it, "Starbuck, fire a burst across their bow".

Swinging her Viper around so its nose was pointed slightly ahead of the unresponsive ship "Copy that". There was no grin on her face as she fired, Poppa was an Argonaut, if he said he saw a centurion on the Carrier then you had better believe him. The rounds burst forward into space but the Olympic Carrier continued on.

"Boomer…" Apollo called "Let Galactica know we have a problem out here".

**Battlestar Galactica, CIC**

"Commander…", Dee announced as Adama gave the order for the fleet to execute jump, "Message from Panacea, there was just a subspace microburst aboard the Olympic Carrier".

There was barely any time for Adama to acknowledge this as Gaeta announced "Dradis Contact, strike that, multiple Dradis contacts. It's the Cylons".

Seeing 32 Basestars on the Dradis running almost abreast of the fleet on their Port flank and already launching Raiders and missiles, Adama ordered "Launch all Vipers and order all military ships into attack formation Alpha 7".

Dee got to work dispatching the orders and setting up the fleet net until an alarm started beeping by her side "Radiological Alarm!" Checking the co-ordinates, Dee continued "The Olympic Carrier, Sir. They've got nukes on board".

Picking up the phone Adama said "Madame President, we have to eliminate that ship immediately". Despite President Roslin replying that there were over 1300 people on that ship, Adama replied "We don't know that and all evidence seems to suggest to them being dead. There's at least one Centurion on it".

Still Laura argued "But if you're wrong we can't just kill 1300 people".

Checking the state of the fleet and seeing that the civilians were jumping faster than they had done over the past week and that the military ships were now in the one formation heading towards the Cylon Fleet, Adama forced "Look it's either them or us. We have to take them out now".

Time seemed to stretch as the consequences raced over the wireless before Roslin replied "Do it!"

**Viper 270, FAM Major Cain**

Shooting forth from the launch tube, Phoenix pulled his Viper into an approach that would link him up with the rest of Vigilante Squadron whom were still being launched. Checking the status of the rest of the fleet's squadrons, Phoenix ordered Panther and Reaper squadrons to pull back as a reserve near the centre of the fleet while linking the rest of the squadrons into a loose overlapping grid which he drove into the centre of the Raider ranks.

Above and below scores of anti-ship rounds continued on past striking the Cylon Basestars while a golden cloud of shrapnel lit the heavens striking those Raiders that dared to veer out of a small corridor. Flicking his Viper so that it would appear to be about to fly over a Raider he was facing off against, Phoenix instead threw a burst of dorsal jets into his approach so that he was blasted "Down" and away from the Raider which had turned to face "Upwards". With a quick flick, Phoenix turned his Viper and blasted out a short burst into the Raiders engines destroying it in a cloud of molten gas and metal. Phoenix twisted around this cloud and glimpsing a Raider coming at him from the rear, spun his Viper into a 180 and covered the space in front of the Raider with a torrent of bullets before he curved past a pirouetting Viper and onto its tail.

In the distance he caught a bright flash flared as Lee took out the non-responsive Olympic Carrier, but putting it to the back of his mind Phoenix continued covering the Viper he was following narrowly twisting to avoid being hit by a missile that tore past. Seeing a Raider chasing down a Viper, Cain dived after it, closing to within fifty feet. Sensing him on its inbuilt Dradis, the Raider flipped towards him after destroying the Viper it was chasing. Without the possibility of hitting a fellow Viper Pilot, Cain let loose with his cannons, unleashing a hailstorm of shrapnel in the Raiders face before pulling away from the cruising cloud of wreckage.

"Phoenix Galactica. Start pulling your squadrons back. We're bugging out in two minutes".

"Galactica Phoenix Roger that", Switching over to Argos Squadrons channel while pulling onto the wing of a passing Viper Cain called out "Argos Phoenix. Set up reserve 1 km back front lines as overwatch and I…"Snapping his Viper hard to the right, Phoenix scraped along the underside of a Raider that was spiralling out of control and seemed to come out of nowhere before he managed to settle his Viper back onto his unknown wingmans wing. "All other squadrons except Vega and Saber are to start pulling back to your home bases. Vega and Saber, well set up shop with the overwatch".

**Command Basestar**

"The Colonials Viper squadrons are pulling back, they're getting ready to jump" a 2 called out in the vast, sleek CIC.

His hand clenching in the interface, One seethed "We can't allow them to escape. If they jump we could lose them…"

"Theyre jumping" Six broke in.

**Battlestar Galactica, Portside Hanger bay**

Climbing out of his Viper, Phoenix quickly signed himself and the Viper back in before rushing over to Boomers Raptor. Clustered around it was a crowd of Pilots, Marines and Medics with an irritable Doc Cottle forcing his way through them. Grumbling around a lit cigarette, Cottle finally snapped "Clear the fracking way, they aren't handing out Ambrosia" The mass of officers and crew seemed to back away from him allowing the grumpy doctor to finally get on the Raptor. Forcing his way through Cottles wake, Cain stepped onto the wing of the Raptor and leaned his head into the open hatch.

Inside Cottle was bent over the prone body of Poppa checking his breathing before reaching into his medical case. It was hard for Cain to see Poppa like this, Covered in a foil blanket, his lips blue and face pale, it seemed to take all of his strength to open his eyelids. Blood had dried below his nose and from what Cain could see of his left arm, it was close to being black.

Stepping up beside Cain, Apollo asked "How is he?"

Shaking his head, his right hand brushing his mouth, Cain answered "It doesn't look good".

Injecting Poppas chest and pulling an electric blanket over him, Cottle nodded to the two medics inside the Raptor to move Poppa onto the stretcher and to the life station. Stepping out of the Raptor and following Apollo and Cain onto the deck, Cottle relit his cigarette and looking Lee and David over before saying "Mans fracking lucky to be alive. We need to get his arm sorted and he'll need a week in the chamber. Good news is he knows who he is and the shot to his arm was a flesh wound".

Lighting his own cigarette, Cain asked "The frostbite?"

"Fifty-fifty shot that a strong course of KTA will deal with it but it's the psychological ramifications you need to worry about. The kid was left for dead, that'll frak anyone up". Taking a look at the now burnt filter before stubbing it out on the Raptors wing and walking away muttering "Fracking lucky bastard".

**24 hours since Cylon contact**

**Battlestar Galactica, Memorial Hall**

No-one quite knew how this hall started, it certainly wasn't commissioned for by the Admiralty or the Government. There was already over a hundred photos and messages lining the walls by the time Adama had formally given permission for it to be used as such maybe because he didn't want to risk hurting anyone's feelings by taking the memories down, maybe because he felt that they needed to remember or maybe because it was right. Similar memorials had sprung up on near enough every ship in the Colonial Fleet and it was always the same that no-one knew who started them.

Standing there looking at a fixed point held in his hand, the sombreness of the hall and the warmth of numerous scented Candles soothing his senses and lulling him into a calm, peaceful serenity, Major David Cain struggled to let go. It just didn't feel right to just like that leave the photo up on the wall. Continuing to look at this small memento, a memory of a time so long ago that he was too young to remember, Cain felt a regret at having not lived the "normal" life.

The Photo was taken on the day of his birth, that much was clear as he saw his baby faced self cradled in his mother's arms as she lay in a hospital bed. The newborn Cain was wrapped up snugly in a small white blanket and in a way it looked like he was winking at the camera with his right eye closed to the world. His mother, Helena had a smile pasted across her face which for her was rare. Her dark hair was unbound and shoulder length, a lock of it resting on Davids head. She looked young, Cain thought and happier than he had seen her in a long, long time.

Next to her, sat on the edge of the bed and holding another baby was the man his mother barely ever mentioned, Daniel, David's father. David didn't know exactly what happened but what he did know is that when he was about 8 months old there were intense arguments between Daniel and Helena, until eventually all the happiness and love that they seemed to have for each other all but disappeared and one day he left Helena and David. Looking at his father now, Cain saw many similarities between the two, the hair style, a brown, cropped dishevelled affair. The eyes that seemed to hold a lifetime of knowledge, a smile that seemed to calm him as he looked at it. But it was mainly the way they both held themselves that sealed the deal, Cain could tell by the way his shoulders sat and from the way that he looked that he probably tended to not go with the flow but guide it.

The person in the photo that his mother never told him about (it was only after he had found this image that he actually realised) was of course his sibling. A sister.

Cain never knew what happened to her, although he had done a lot of searching, the one thing he didn't feel able to do and had kept putting off for year after year was asking his mother about her. Standing there, thinking back over it all, Cain wished he'd had the balls to just ask his mother but as hard as he tried throughout his life Cain just couldn't feel as if he could connect to her. He felt that to Helena, he was just another tool that had to be fashioned into a Razor, he could still remember her telling him as she dropped him off to a martial arts class as a child that "A razor doesn't feel fear, it doesn't feel fear, it doesn't hesitate, it doesn't back down. A razor is strong, it will cut through everything it faces and it will never feel pain. You need to be a razor if you are to survive, only those that act first and without hesitation survive".

She had won, she had turned him into a razor but it was now that he realised that a razor isn't alive, and survival isn't everything when everyone around you is dead.

But looking down at the image of his sister, a smile broke across Cain's face. The new-borns eyes unlike her brothers were wide open and staring directly into the camera lens and across her face, even though it was supposedly rare for babies, was what could only be described as a cocky grin. This image was the life that Cain never had but looking down on it he finally realised that it was a life he had to hold onto. "Not yet…" he whispered into the hallway before quietly slipping the photo back into his pocket, careful not to fold it.

"Hey, you okay?" Kara asked from the end of the hallway as she stood in the hatch combing. Even she seemed to respect this room as she tried to keep her voice as quiet as possible.

Turning and walking towards her, Cain replied "Yeah, I'll get over it. How come you're down here?"

Kara followed him out of the sombre hallway before saying "Little birdy told me you've got a shipment of gear coming over on the next Raptor" a grin dying to crease her face.

Shaking his head, Cain answered "And you just happened to hear what was in it?"

"Well, I guessed you might need some help shifting it so I'm willing to do you a deal" she held her hand out as she said this trying to hold her best business pose as possible but failing miserably.

Laughing, Cain answered "I'll bet you are", shaking his head again, Cain gave a firm handshake "Well I could do with the help. Come on".

**Caprica**

Setting a light to the small amount of tinder he had carried throughout the day so as to dry it out, Admiral Hillard placed it in the carefully built Marine-style fire pit (search for Dakota fire pit for Earth equivalent) before selectively adding more fuel to the fire. It didn't seem to take long for the fire to take hold and the heat to finally hit the freezing Admiral. After tending to his wounded shoulder, Hillard eventually started heating a small tin of beans courtesy of his crashed Raptors survival rations while chewing on a rancid Army biscuit.

His small armoury never left his side throughout all this, just two assault Rifles (two clips each) and two side arms (4 clips each plus 5 explosive rounds), Hillard kept a tight watch on the rain soaked forest. Ever since earlier that day when he had heard a distant explosion carried on the wind, Hillard had remained wary knowing that there were likely Cylons nearby and although the fire was a big risk, the fact was he was exhausted, his feet were killing him, his clothes were soaked right through and right now he would welcome contact with the Cylons. Unknown to the Admiral the source of that explosion had since been captured and later rescued.

After eating and placing his socks over the fire before putting his boots back on, Hillard eventually lay back ready for sleep to overtake him and wishing that the storm and dust choked skies above him would clear enough for him to see the stars.

**Well that's the end of the longest chapter yet, I hope you liked it. I decided not to go the way of 33 as RDM produced it by focusing on a small period of time but instead to spread out the story over different points in the 5 days worth of jumping due to the fact that Adama has a bigger fleet of military ships in this version. Also in 33 Adama mentioned that he was working on a plan to Roslin but didn't have time to implement it so I decided why not show what his plan could have been (splitting the fleet) although in the original 33 this would have been minus the military ships.**

**As to the Graystones idea of the subspace signals, it seems likely in my mind that the Cylons would have developed this technology in order to work their resurrection and once they had this game changing technology they would have looked at other ways to utilise it. The devices in question would have been disabled but not destroyed. As to events that transpired in 33like with Baltar finding out about Doctor Amorach and six getting Baltars belief in God consider these to have taken place in this story.**

**You may also be happy to know that I have started A spinoff based in this universe and covering the war on Leonis and the first chapter will be going up as soon as this one does. This story is called "Battlestar Galactica: The Lions of Leonis". Below you will find the current standing of the Colonial fleet as of the end of this chapter. Would appreciate any comments both good and bad. Will update soon.**

**327 Civilian Ships**

**442,826 survivors**

**Battlestar Galactica**

**Battlestar Defiant**

**Battlestar Valkyrie**

**Battlestar Hades**

**Battlestar Valiant (currently under repair inside Nemea)**

**Battlestar Halcyon (Currently under repair inside Nemea)**

**Battlestar Talon (under Tug, too badly damaged to be brought back into service, to be stripped for parts)**

**Medstar Panacea**

**Battlestation Nemea**

**Destroyer Red Blood (under tug while being repared)**

**Heavy Cruiser Granite (under tug)**

**Gunstar Fiefdom**

**Gunstar Forrest **

**3 Large Tylium Tankers**

**1 Midsized Tylium Tanker (under tug)**

**3 small Tylium Tankers**

**6 Mining ships (two of these were picked up just after first jump)**

**1 Osmosis plant ship**

**9 Greenhouse type ships (4 of which are under tug)**

**5% of civilian ships have some type of defensive arangements and most of these are the surviving Graystones ships)**


	16. Chapter 16 Water:The Enemy Within

**Water: The Enemy Within**

**9 days after attack on colonies**

**Medstar Panacea**

"As you can see Doctor, most of the wards are full to overflowing. The problem isn't that the injuries are overtly life threatening but the conditions of the individuals involved and the simple fact that there haven't been that many ships which are coming forth to take them in. Quite simply, they have all been tarred with the Graystone brush and no one wants anything to do with them".

Stopping by the side of a teenage boys bed, a boy who showed no obvious sign of injury but it was only when you looked more closely that you saw the catatonic state that he was in. His eyes and face reflected a blankness that Cottle had never seen before. Looking up from the boy, Cottle turned to look across the very length of this ward at more than a 100 beds each holding someone in a similar state and of a similar age and a realisation dawned on him, there were another 3 wards similar to this. "How did this happen?" there was a more understandable gruffness to his voice as he barked the question at Panaceas CMO and resident Graystone, Amanda Graystone.

A sadness flowed through her voice mixed with a heavy trace of guilt as she replied "During the assault on Caprica, we didn't know what to fully expect but a tactic had been developed to allow these Cyphers to create a defensive network surrounding the planet in order to scramble any form of wireless hack by the Cylons as well as to infiltrate their systems if possible".

Rounding on her, Cottle muttered "You make me sick, the human mind can't handle the amount of data you are talking about".

"You're wrong. There were thousands of Cyphers which reduced the amount of data each mind had to deal with. These injuries aren't caused by the defensive net or from infiltrating the Cylon ships…"

"Then what caused it?"

"The Cylon Basestars seem to be controlled by an organic MCP, likely a specified humanoid model. The Basestars are essentially one giant living being. Once it was established that they were being hacked, these MCPs fought back. It's something that both my husband and daughter had to fight against".

"Humph, I don't see them lying in a bed".

"No, you don't. They had time to develop countermeasures and our brains have been slightly upgraded so as to make more room available. While the average human only has access to a few percent of their brain we have access to almost 25%. But need I remind you that these are only the worst cases. There's almost a thousand more in better conditions and if it wasn't for their intervention then Caprica would have been a lot worse and Leonis would have been a total bloodbath. It was thanks to the Cyphers work that we were able to refine the infiltration process…"

As Amanda continued, Cottle was doing some serious calculations in his head while reading the medical clipboard in his hand. It was possible that they could regain some semblance of themselves over time but they would never be the same and what they needed most was someone to look after them.

"Alright, I've seen enough. Show me the fleet personnel".

**9 days after attack on colonies**

**Battlestar Hades**

Ducking underneath a shower of sparks as repairs were being conducted on a bulkhead, Cain continued onwards, squeezing past a DC team moving a collection of hull plating and pipes down the corridor before he moved towards the reserve pilot briefing room (the main one having been gutted by a fire). All across this mighty warship it seemed like repairs were being hastily carried out. Cain knew from his time as a senior chief of deck that the repairs would take months to fully complete because a Battlestar was more than just engines and hangers, CICs and corridors, instead there were tens of thousands of miles of cabling, thousands of pipes and hundreds of hours of pressure checks. What he saw in the corridors was barely a flicker of what was going on in the true guts.

Rounding the corner and into the pilot briefing room, Cain was met by two members of Argos Squadron and Hades current Cag Captain Lucas Rosh. Returning their salutes and then moving forward to give each a handshake Cain then dropped a large pile of dossiers in a seat and sat down next to them. At the front of the room a projector screen had been set up and the lights were lowered as Rosh started the first video saying "Lieutenant Ash Stamford, Viper pilot with two years service" before he himself sat down.

On the screen a guncam recording started with a rapid acceleration through Hades Tubes, besides this footage was a dradis recording of the events taking place captured by the same Viper. Pen in his hand and notebook on the table, Cain started recording how this pilot flew discussing her style as he did so. The recording ended 10 minutes later and was quickly followed by another two of her flights before Lucas replaced the footage with "Ensign Yuri Stagoritch, Viper Pilot with 6 months service". Cain had another eight hours of this to endure today and that was on top of the 18 he'd already been through.

**10 days after attack on colonies**

**Battlestar Galactica, Portside Hanger**

As the Raptor was wheeled forward into the hangar bay it seemed like the entire crew of Galactica was waiting in full military dress for the occupant. Of course this would be wrong, at most there was only a third of the crew here, the other two thirds were either at their duty stations or in their racks as they refreshed themselves for the night shift. But still that did nothing to lessen the sight of so many crew awaiting the arrival of their President, it didn't matter that she was once a school teacher to most of them, all that mattered it seemed was what she did now and how she acted as she completed the late President Adars term in office.

Colonel Tigh's harsh voice seemed to carry throughout the cavernous hanger almost as if the tension he had felt in his gut that morning which only seemed to be quenched by the smoky, sour tang of a finger of whisky was fuelling him now. "Company attention". As one it seemed a sound of stamping boots responded as the crew as one came together at attention. Moving back to stand next to his commander and ever present friend, Tigh grumbled "Fracking collars itching like a vestal virgin".

Adama smiled as the Raptors hatch started to swing open "I wouldn't know Saul, I've never been with a Vestal Virgin".

"Well they aren't virgins anymore" Tigh chuckled before quietening down as he realised that Major Cain and Captain Adama stood next to him were just barely succeeding in avoiding chuckling. Grumbling, Tigh muttered "Nothings fracking private anymore".

President Roslin appeared on the wing of the Raptor to the fine military tradition of full honours, something that while she appreciated the sentiment, disliked at standing out like this.

**Two hours later**

**Battlestar Galactica, Port Landing Bay**

"We need to sort out her landings, Lee. We aren't short of spare parts right now but we need every man hour that the knuckledraggers can give us to fix the fleet which means we can't have her wrecking any more Raptors" Cain explained to Lee as they walked through the packed hangar. As Galactica's only fully functioning hangar all of her deck operations and DC operations were coordinated from here.

Manoeuvring around a taxying Mark 2 Raptor, Apollo replied "She's a decent pilot…"

"I know, I saw her in action over Virgon but it's her landings that are concerning me".

Apollo couldn't really disagree with Cain's assessment but this was a delicate situation. If a pilot knows they are being assessed then they are likely to subconsciously at least alter their movements thus hiding the problem that needs to be fixed, and when the assessment is over they revert back to how they used to be. "We don't tell her what we are there for".

Nodding, Cain answered "I wasn't planning to. We have a legitimate reason…" seeing Kara turn to them after talking to Chief with a grin on her face as a section of knuckledraggers fitted an advanced sensors package to a Raptor, Cain continued "We do have a reason. We'll be running an assessment on the fleet's ships for Nemea checking for any radiation signatures which are out of the norm as well as any damage that has previously gone unnoticed. The Admiral wants us to concentrate on the Graystones Snapdragons. Starbuck, you seen Boomer?"

Replying the blonde often rebellious pilot said "Yeah. Ten minutes ago she came out of the tool room. She's getting suited up right now".

Climbing onto the Raptor, Cain started taking a look at the new systems noting the handiwork of the Chief. Due to the extra systems needed a larger than average crew was needed, a pilot, co-pilot and two men manning the sensors board. It was another five minutes before Boomer returned suited up and the Raptor was taxied up to the landing deck.

Sitting in the co-pilots seat as Boomer waited for flight control to give them the all clear Cain heard Apollo ask "So you two got any stories from the Academy?" meaning Cain and Kara.

Chuckling, Cain answered "Stories, nightmares more like".

Leaning forward to swat him on the shoulder, Kara answered "You loved it really and you could have backed down at any time".

"What, and disappoint you. Mind remember Ferguson?"

Thinking, Kara asked "Wanderer, that dumb motherfracker who landed on the I-7? (road between Cap City and Delphi). What about him?".

"He's in the fleet and you'll never guess what his job is?".

"I'm just survived he made it in. Viper Pilot, CAG?"

"Nah, the Wanderer, the man who flew a hundred miles off course before landing on a major road is now the Battlestar Hades Navigator"

Cain started chuckling away as Kara burst out "You're shitting me. There's no way fleet passed him".

"Trust me, I'm not. I bumped into him the other day. Turns out he's actually a pretty good navigator".

"Gods if he's good I'm a drunken ferret".

The talk was interrupted when Dee came on the line "Raptor 232 you have flight authorisation. You know the drill".

As Boomer took control and lifted the ship off the runway Cain replied over the wireless "Galactica Phoenix, roger that taking off now" Apollo and Cain were carefully watching Boomers movements as the transport took off and eased along the flightpod noting how carefully and fluidly she moved the stick.

Kara asked Cain "Do you mind if I tell them of Sarah?"

Turning to look back at her, Cain said "Damn right I do, as if that's going to stop you".

Apollo asked "Who's Sarah?"

"The love of Cain's life even if he got a shock", Kara burst out laughing unable to contain herself anymore.

Cain manned himself up before saying "Let's just say she wasn't all woman".

As the implication hung in the air Boomer and Apollo burst out laughing with Apollo asking between gasps "You didn't?"

"Hell no…" Kara laughed "The stupid fracker burst from her room with his pants around his ankles".

As laughing filled the interior Cain started to say "You didn't have to take pictures…" Ahead of them the hull of Galactica burst forth releasing a highly pressurised torrent of icy cold water into their path stopping Cain dead. With Boomer moving to pull the Raptor clear, Cain shouted back "No time, full speed go through it. Strap in" while he flipped the wireless to Galactica. Another section of hull plating burst forth following the first as Cain shouted into the wireless "Galactica loudspeaker now. Helm, station keep…" more hull plates were bursting forth under the high pressure of the water behind them, the pressure buffeting the Raptor and threatening to tear it apart. It was only due to the high speed of the Raptor and the skill in Boomers piloting while under pressure that meant they were still holding together, if they had tried to just simply pull out there was a strong chance that the pressure of the water would have damaged the engines. Nevertheless Cain's hands were never far away from the controls if Boomer proved unable to get them out of this but he knew he had to trust her as he continued "…Starboard thrusters to max, lower port thrusters to half thrust. Do not disengage with the civilian ship".

At the same time that all of this was happening a civilian ship had just docked with Galactica to replenish their water supplies but if they attempted to break off right now, Cain knew there was a chance they could damage both ships and the docking collar between them. They had to just hope that the officer manning Galactica's helm was good and fast enough to counteract the sudden thrust from the escaping water. As the Raptor just cleared the reservoirs Cain ordered "Get us 500 feet off Galactica's bow and flip us over…"

**Battlestar Galactica, CIC**

**Just after first explosion**

"…aker now. Helm, station keep…" Dee reacted straight away as soon as she heard the first part of loudspeaker and switched the com over to the entire CIC.

Hearing the order from the Field Air Marshal, Lieutenant Jena Milan heard Adama shout over to her "Do it". He didn't need to order her, she was already doing it. She was well trained and often considered to be a natural Battlestar Pilot. Flipping a dozen switches in seemingly one movement and in barely a glance at the accelerometers and external LIDAR started to power the starboard thrusters to oppose the sudden thrust that was coming from the rapidly depleting portside reservoirs just as Cain ordered "…Starboard thrusters to max, lower port thrusters to half thrust. Do not disengage with the civilian ship". Continuing with the thrust, Jena flipped another sixteen switches using one master switch while pushing forward on a lever to bring the lower portside thrusters to half thrust since the reservoirs due to their position would also be pushing the Battlestar in an anticlockwise circle, but by counteracting it this way she was able to halt the orbit.

Double checking the monitors, Jena saw how the vast majority of the thrust had been negated and the rest could be and was being compensated for by the docked civilian ship. As the reservoirs rapidly emptied of their contents and the thrust coming from them lessened Jena started to ease down on the opposing thrusters at the same time that Cain ordered "Ease back, rear starboard thrusters first". Within a few seconds it was all over and the Galactica continued forward on her standard engines with just a slight compensation from Jena because of a lower mass in the portside of the ship.

"Good work, Lieutenant", Jena visibly jumped at the Admirals voice, not realising that he had been stood behind her for a while now. Looking back she saw him move back to the information table ordering in his husky voice "Gaeta, find out what happened and disengage with the civilian ship".

Turning to the President, in a lower tone Adama said "You know that crisis we were talking about. Its upon us, that was 60 percent of our water supply".

Gaeta walked over to the Admiral "Major Cain reports that Apollo reported the heat blooms of explosives. Their Raptor had an advanced sensors package so it's possible they recorded something more substantial".

"Bring them in".

**Battlestar Galactica, Port Landing Bay**

Two marines stood guard as Raptor 202-Panacea was wheeled into the hanger stopping just in front of them. The hatch slowly swung upwards allowing its six passengers to exit, Zoe Graystone taking point.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Cain saw all of this as he moved over to meet them. Seeing the approach of the senior pilot, Daniel started to step in front of Zoe as if worried that Cain might attack them, the thought was always in the back of his mind these days due to the fact that with the fall of the colonies at the hands of the Cylons much anger and distrust would be turned their way in the Cylons absence. But it was with Cain's next actions that the fear quickly evaporated.

"Doctor Graystone…" Cain moved his right hand from behind his back as he continued "It would be an honour to shake your hand" Cain held his hand out in front of himself, an open gesture of acceptance and trust.

The action caught Daniel off guard but he quickly recovered saying "I didn't expect this kind of welcome" as he in turn grasped Cain's hand.

As they let go Cain continued first introducing himself then saying "Its thanks to you and your family and the precautions you took that I and a hell of a lot of other pilots are still alive today, so, thankyou". By now a small group of knuckle draggers and pilots had gathered by the sides of the hanger watching what was happening, some with hatred at the events and some with their opinions altering slightly for the better. "Now if you'll follow me, I'll take you to the conference room".

Walking through the corridors of the Battlestar with the ever present marine guard taking the point and rear of the group, Cain turned to the Graystones and asked "Tell me, do you still have any holobands?"

The question caught Daniel off guard since holoband technology had been outlawed in the colonies just over a year before the armistice but it was Zoe who answered "Actually we do, we used them while creating the defensive networks over Caprica and Leonis. Why do you ask?"

Looking at the beautiful, dark haired woman before him, Cain replied "If I can convince the Admiral then we may have a use for them".

Daniel put in "They're useless without a network and Adamas psych profile places him as someone not likely to allow a network".

"You've seen his psych profile?"

Tamara answered "We've got a 4 month old copy of the entire defence mainframe. We have everyone's psych profile".

"You do realise I have to notify the Admiral about this?"

"He already knows. They're to be installed on Nemea at the end of the week".

**Battlestar Galactica, Main Conference Room**

Lieutenant Gaeta had just finished giving a presentation to the President, the Admiral what was seen as the Admiralty in the combined military ship Commanders of the fleet except for Commander Scott who was currently in temporary command of the fleet on board the defiant just in case the Cylons jumped in while the Admiralty was preoccupied. In addition to the various commanders and the President, Chief Tyrol was also present as were Major Cain, Captain Adama, the Graystones including Cyrus and Tamara, Gaius Baltar, Chief Saran of Nemea and Doctor Cottle in his post as Surgeon General (the fleets chief Doctor).

With Gaeta's presentation on the reasons why sixty percent of Galactica's water were now floating freely in space, Gaeta sat back down. There was some murmuring between the Commanders before Adama said "General" and motioned him forward.

Although he was used to speaking in front of large groups of people, the General had not had to do so for a while and as he stood he had to numb down that part of himself that hated these kind of things by taking a quick cough and then starting. "I've been working closely with each of your heads of security these past few days and we have spent that time trying to root out these new model of Cylons" at this a petty officer who had been vetted by Admiral Adama handed out folders boarded by a thick black line. Everyone started opening them revealing a collection of photographs and security stills.

"As you can see the Cylons now have the ability to look like us. They could be any one of us and we would not know", this wasn't something new to the Commanders. Over Leonis they had learnt to their detriment that the Cylons had this new ability, it was because of these "Skinjobs" as they became known that so many ships had been lost, but it was what the General said next that was new to them "We have reason to believe that there are less than ten different models. This assumption is based on the reason and the evidence we have at hand, namely these images. The first known Cylon model was discovered on Ragnar Anchorage by Admiral Adama and as we long suspected the radiation belt surrounding the gas giant of Ragnar was slowly killing this models body…"

Baltar interrupted "I would like to take a look at the body in question" the photo in his hand showed the deceased model lying on a morgue slab, "it could give me an idea as to how they are constructed although the fact that the radiation was affecting them does give me an idea as to their makeup".

Roslin asked "Does the radiation affect humans?"

Baltar was the one to answer "Only long term exposure to it would affect us. You're talking about at least a year's exposure. However if it affected the Cylon as fast as Admiral Adama said it did in this report then it's likely that their bodies have high levels of silicon. It would be good to assume that their brains have the highest levels of silicon although their blood may also have silicon within them. Either way I would need to test the body in order to find out which and any other differences".

Daniel Graystone backed up Baltar by saying "I would concur with Dr Baltar, while the radiation doesn't affect us…"

"Why is that?" Roslin asked.

"Simply because our bodies are almost perfect clones and we veered away from using silicon relays within our bodies. We are 100% organic carbon based lifeforms ".

Baltar said "But you said you had a chip in your heads?"

"Well remembered. However the chip is largely carbon based designed to degrade as soon as we download into the new body. The chip isn't hardware its wetware. Then when our brains register that death is imminent a carbon based network we engineered to run down the length of our spinal nerve cluster sends out our minds into subspace. If our spines have been severed then the maximum distance we can download to is significantly reduced".

"How significant?" the General asked.

Tamara replied "Anywhere between 100,000 kilometres to 1,000,000 kilometres"

Adama, taking off his glasses asked "Would you say it would be possible to detect these new Cylons?"

Head Six appeared at Baltar's shoulder and leaning in almost toying with the man said "Look at how easily they turn to you for help. If only they knew the part you played in humanities destruction" her hand crept its way down the front of his shirt inflaming his lust as it grew closer to his trousers. Baltar grew to her light touch. Secretly Baltar loved these intimate sessions as Six toyed with his body but he had a question to answer.

Choking off a cough as he was forced to endure sixs ministrations Baltar answered "Ye…yes I believe it would be possible but like I said I need access to the body. All I would need to do is replicate Ragnars radiation".

Placing his glasses back on after cleaning them, Adama replied "You'll get the access".

Head Six chuckled in Baltar's ear as she said "If only they knew you don't know how to replicate the radiation".

The General continued "During Admiral Adamas encounter with the Cylon known as Leobon, he noted how this Cylon has superior physical strength to what you would expect. This Cylon is also manipulative and a compulsive liar. One thing you should know is that a compulsive liar mixes the lies in with the truth and is usually harder to find out. During the battle of Leonis at least 4 of these models were discovered within the fleet".

Moving on the General came to the second known Cylon, "This is Aaron Doral. Also a known Cylon…"

"Doesn't seem like they gave it any fashion software. If they all wear suits like this well spot them a mile off" Commander Stone muttered easing the tension in the room. The photo was of Galactica's now headless Doral (taken before his head exploded) of him in a bright turquoise suit.

The General continued "Nevertheless this model was present on 5 military ships and the one on Galactica almost killed Admiral Adama and the President".

"Remind me not to hang around you Bill, you seem to be a magnet for the Cylons".

Then the General came to the partial images of the rest of the Cylon models "Unfortunately the human-type Cylons as soon as they realised we were onto them ran a virus through most of the Fleets security systems disrupting the images taken of them. However we still managed to capture these images" dozens of blurred, scratchy images were in the folders with the assembled people struggling to make sense of them. "We can't make out much of these Cylons except sex, hair colour, skin colour and height although one thing we are attempting is to blend the images we suspect are of the same model to give us a clear image although this will take time". The General couldn't know as he sat back down that of the dozens of images there were only seven models although some had varying hairstyles and hair colours, basically superficial adjustments to the dna.

Cottle was the next to give his report, "We've now dealt with the majority of cases with radiation sickness and while we still have many more cases we are dealing with them. This has however meant that we are currently running low on radiation medication and will have to start manufacturing more as soon as possible".

Amanda Graystone added "the facilities on Panacea are currently gearing up for this, all you have to do is give the order Admiral".

"You have it"

Cottle added "We also need to manufacture basic medication especially Antibiotics since we lost most of it when the Cylons were chasing us. One problem this fleet does have is the Graystones Cyphers many of whom are suffering brain damage. It's that bad that some are suffering from Locked In Syndrome and are going to need specialist therapy. We also need to raise awareness in the fleet of what they sacrificed in order to protect Caprica. To be honest most of them need families to come forward to look after them and in some cases to teach them. I've spoken extensively with Amanda Graystone and am positive that the only reason they were affected this badly wasn't because of the holobands, which I might add are far more secure than they were in the first war but the fact that most of the safety features had to be deactivated which allowed the Cylon Basestars MCPs to gain access and torture their minds. If the safeties are in place and sufficient counter intrusion software is installed then this shouldn't happen again". Cottle then proceeded to inform the Admiralty and specialists about the medical condition of the fleet including the fact that a flu was quickly spreading throughout the fleet as were a dozen other illnesses that had been present on the Colonies. This was to be expected really since you can't stick more than a quarter of a million people in a few hundred ships and not expect illnesses to spread faster than they would on a planet.

Major Cain was the last person to give his report which many would be seen as one of the worst.

Before he started, Adama turned to the President saying "I don't know how much you know of the Colonial Military…"

A smirk lit up Roslins face as she interrupted "Not much, I can assure you…" glancing at Lee she continued "…but I am learning".

"Well I have made Major Cain the Fleet Air Marshall. Basically his job is to better coordinate the fleets Vipers and Raptors in any way he sees fit. Only a handful of people are qualified for this task in the entire fleet and all of them belong to Argos Squadron since their training is longer, harder and more specialised". The Admiral gave Cain a nod to start his report.

Speaking up, Cain started "Out of all the fleet personnel, the pilots as is to be expected have suffered the most at the hands of the Cylons. We have plenty of planes, in fact we have just over three per pilot but that isn't the problem. The fleet as it is with Nemea and the fact that Galactica was being decommissioned means that we should have 832 Viper pilots and 290 Raptor Pilots and ECOs however we lost a lot at Leonis, Caprica, Virgon and during the chase and despite taking on Pilots from other ships we currently have 158 active pilots and 36 injured pilots".

The numbers shocked the assembled Commanders and especially the President and seeing this Cain waited a brief moment before continuing "At present I suggest we merge the Squadrons, this would mean taking 7 of the most undermanned squadrons and taking them off the lists. This action alone would mean that we could better coordinate the remaining squadrons until such a time as the numbers can be replaced which brings me onto my next point".

Taking a breath because Cain knew this would be the most controversial point he could make, he continued "We need to start an immediate recruitment and a training programme. President Roslin has already started a census and just from this so far, despite it being incomplete we've already come across 12 Academy dropouts, 41 veterans although some of these veterans are over fifty years old and 23 people with experience flying freight or atmospheric craft".

"How many veterans will we be able to fly?" Adama asked.

"That all depends on if they pass the medical and readiness tests. Right now though we are desperate for experienced pilot to fill out the ranks. But going by their ages I'd say 20 to 30 combat pilots and the rest we can use in non-combat roles".

Commander Stone leant forward and asked "Do we have any trainers in the fleet, the only three I had didn't make it?"

Nodding the Admiral replied "Argos Squadron are all qualified to act as training personnel…"

Looking at the Admiral, Cain said "Although most of us haven't trained anyone yet, myself included".

Adama nodded and continued "…and I also have a qualified trainer on Galactica".

Cain continued "There is also 5 others throughout the fleet, most of these are on Nemea. Anyway we need a training programme and the training programme I have in mind given how few pilots we have…well let's just say you're not going to like it".

Readying himself for the worst, Adama motioned for him to continue.

"We use holobands". There was a moment of silence that descended on the room like a cloud of ice and then seemingly as one there were cries of _"You can't be serious"._

Adama waited for everyone to calm down all the while he was looking Cain in the eyes. The Cain he knew from the Valkyrie was someone who got you the best results with very little. But looking in them eyes Adama saw a cold hard logic behind this controversial decision and he felt like he owed it to the man to at least hear him out, but that did not mean he would ever forget how the Cylons had hacked the holoband network during the last few years of the first war and killed thousands when they overloaded the holobands. This had meant that holoband technology was outlawed but nowadays all you would get if you were found with an operational one is a thousand cubit fine. "Explain your reasoning" Adama said with his gravelly voice. At one the whole room silenced as they realised that Adama was actually considering it and when it came down to it they themselves realised that if the reasoning was good enough then they may just have to use the holoband technology at least temporarily to replace their losses.

Looking around the room, Cain started "While the holobands can't create muscle memory we can at least use them as a teaching tool in order to deal with the mathematical tutoring and the flight simulation".

"We already have flight simulators" Commander Stone.

"Which are nowhere near as good as the holobands. They don't make you feel like you are flying and they certainly don't get the adrenaline pumping. You can be a perfect pilot on a simulator but as soon as you are in an actual combat situation with your blood pumping there is a chance you will be overwhelmed. Once the new recruits show some skill with the virtual simulations and pass the tests then well be able to move them over to actual training flights. By then they should at least have greater confidence and be used to the adrenaline pumping and the training should be faster".

"Do we even have enough holobands?" Baltar asked.

Daniel nodded "We have almost a thousand which I might add are pre-war versions which we can modify to have increased safeguards against outside interference". With the holobands being pre-war versions they were of a superior quality to the ones Admiral Adama was familiar with and were supposed to have better security against hacks which weren't present in the third generation versions which were the only ones available during the war (the pre-war versions having rare elements built in that could be used for the war effort).

Zoe intoned "I think I might have a way to partially build up muscle memory. With a few modifications which shouldn't take long, the simulators should be able to connect with a holoband so the simulators build up the muscle memory at least partially while the holobands provide the environment".

Nodding, Cain replied "That could work".

"Don't the holobands need a network in order to run?" the President asked catching onto the idea.

"They do and each of my Snapdragon class ships has a limited server with a variety of Sims. While we don't have any Sims of Vipers past the mark 4 we could create them with the help of your pilots…"

"I'm not having networks in this fleet" Adama interrupted, the assembled commanders nodding their ascent.

"Admiral, I hate networks almost as much as you do. I've only ever flown a networked viper when I was being trained. But we can make this work without exposing the fleet to outside influence if we create a closed network not connected to communications or in fact any of the ships systems. We need this Admiral otherwise it will be a lot longer before we can start to replace our losses".

"Admiral we can also start to create simulations of the new Raiders and Heavy Raiders and given time once we've bypassed all the security in the files we downloaded we will be able to create interior simulations of the new Basestars. The worst thing you could do now apart from building an open network is to do nothing, this isn't like the first war where we knew the Basestars layouts and the capabilities of their ships. We need to learn and we need to learn fast. You need to trust us or at the very least trust Cain, he's the one that came to me with the idea of using the holobands".

This was a decision that Adama couldn't make alone, he had to know how the others felt.

Leaning forward Commander Stone announced "The networks almost got me and the rest of my crew killed. Trust me when I say that I don't want a single network on Valkyrie. That being said I can understand where Major Cain is coming from. We need new pilots and if this is the fastest way to train them then it's a chance that we have to take but only when the Graystones can prove to us that these networks can't be hacked by an outside source".

The Hades Commander nodded his ascent at Stones observation "We have no choice Admiral. The Battlestars are only as powerful as our pilots and right now we don't have enough. Cain's way will at least give us a chance".

To help bring the Admiral over to his way of thinking, Cain tried one last argument "You mentioned to me before Admiral that our squadrons were uncoordinated while flying together mainly due to the fact that we've lost most of the CAGs and experienced pilots. While I have tried to restore their ability to fly together by sticking at least one Argonaut in each squadron its nowhere near enough and will take hours of formation flights to get them back up to scratch. And this would be at a time when Tylium is at a premium. The pilots already have the muscle memory needed to fly this way but what they really need is…what we really need is access to the holobands and simulators so that we can fly together. We can't risk all of our pilots on a single Battlestar in order to perform these flights and we can't risk using as much tylium as would be needed without knowing when we can replenish our reserves. But with the holoband and a couple of directed lasers and tight receivers…"

"You'll be able to perform these flights with all the pilots in the virtual environment at the same time" Adama finished before continuing "But at the same time you'll be opening us up to infiltration…"

"That's why I suggest the tight receivers. They're that small that they can only receive directed lasers from the one source". Having come across these receivers in the last couple of months of his commission as a deck chief when he served on the Valkyrie, Cain was required to verse himself with all the new devices being installed and brought on board the Battlestars as reserves so he knew the advantages of the tight laser receivers or TLRs as they became known. At only 1.2 centimetres in width the TLRs were shaped life a cup with a protective shell growing out from the base of the TLR by just under a foot. This cover was designed so only one laser beam could hit the plate at any one time. Any other lasers trying to hit the receiver at the same time would be unable to do so because of the foot long shell. In fact the only way for a new laser to hit the receiver would be if the ship carrying it were to move between the original laser and receiver. There was however one major disadvantage, in order to maintain a stable connection the two ships sending and receiving the lasers had to maintain a perfect course and speed match otherwise the laser would not hit the receiver. To do this would take up to 15 minutes of precise course adjustments beforehand but doing this would also help with the Battlestars helmsmen's training.

Although this was a change to the plan the various commanders knew that this was a brilliant idea. As they each nodded their agreement at this, Cain let out a sigh of relief and Adama announced "Looks like your plan gets the go ahead but I am adding a number of stipulations chief of which is that if I suspect at any time the closed network has been hacked then it will be shut down, you are to make no changes to it without my express permission, there are to be no more than a quarter of our pilots in these Sims at any one time, the rooms holding the holobands are to be placed under a 24 hour guard and I want a safety measure to kick in and shut the network down if any ship even starts to behave as if its moving towards the lasers" Adama was stern all the time he said this. The truth was that if they weren't in this situation with the possibility of the Cylons jumping in any second and with them having more Civilian ships than they do Viper Pilots then he wouldn't even consider the possibility of a network no matter how closed it is. But this wouldn't be a network with any of the ships systems, even if it was breached then the Battlestars with it wouldn't be affected. The guns would still fire, engines would still burn, Vipers would launch and the jumpdrives would be unaffected. There were only two dangers, chief of which was the holobands harming those wearing them if the Cylons managed to breach the system and the other danger, no matter how unlikely was if a humanoid Cylon used this network to communicate with another Cylon on another Battlestar, but this was possible with implanting a background signal in a normal wireless connection or as theorised in war college sending out minute pulses in the thrusters. Through the argument storming its way around his mind Adama knew that this had to be done, his back would be to the wall for the next couple of months until they had replacement pilots and the standard simulators he knew were rubbish at creating new pilots with any feel for flying since you couldn't build in enough variables, with the holoband you could. There was no other way.

Cain nodded, it was to be expected that there would be conditions and he could at least deal with these ones. The difficulty would be that with only a quarter of pilots being allowed access to holobands at any one time, that the Graystones would have to record each pilots movements and actions and superimpose them with the next pilots, but it could be done.

Daniel leaned forward and said "We will be able to help with the security aspect. We understand the Cylons enough to create firewalls not to stop the Cylons but to delay them and our firewalls are powerful. Give us a week and we can have over 200 firewalls ready for installation which should slowdown the Cylons for up to ten minutes. All we would need is a couple of seconds to either remove the holobands or turn off the sim".

While Adama nodded Roslin looking at Cain used her powers of deduction gained from years of reading students as a teacher to be able to tell he still had something left to say "Something else, Major?"

Looking around and then back at the sheets of paper in front of him (not that he needed to since he'd memorised everything on it) Cain passed them around the tables and said "These are the first stage of crew changes, necessary crew changes since the old fleet personnel pilots only put new pilots with any squadron that was lacking a pilot without thought of how well they would work together. Myself and the rest of Argos Squadron have been studying the way that each pilot flies from their gun camera images and have been indexing them according to a 22 point scale devised when Argos was created. Our main goal is to find pilots that complement each other, putting a weak pilot with a strong pilot where possible. With these changes, hopefully we'll be seeing vast improvements in pilot survivability and pilot improvement. I just need you to sign off on the orders Admiral. We also need at least one rapid reaction squadron. Back in the colonies each colony and shipyard had at least one and while Nemea had Myrmidon Squadron their ranks have been decimated that much that there are only four pilots still with flight status. On a plus note we have 3 members of Ghost Squadron within the fleet, for those of you who haven't heard of them they are a black ops squadron whose pilots are to be honest rivals of Argos. Nevertheless they are brilliant pilots.

"The highlighted names before you are pilots who either were once considered for training in Argos Squadron, were part of a rapid reaction squadron or are those we…Argos squadron that is deem capable of being part of an RRS. So I propose we reform Argos Alpha Squadron out of these pilots and base them on Galactica since most of the pilots will be coming from Vigilante Squadron whose name we will be keeping for this squadron. It shouldn't take much to retrain them and if all goes well we will have enough pilots trained up that we can preserve our skill sets and have them involved in training up new pilots. While this is going on I suggest Admiral that you get the Starboard flight pod up and running because six months from now I plan on at the very least tripling the number of pilots at the very least".

The Admiral and the various commanders read through each of the names on the list, some with grumbles and others with grimaces as they realised just who they would be losing but they all knew the reasoning behind them and in the end the pressure of just what the Cylons had left them with forced their hand and they allowed the crew changes.

Speaking up as the report came to him, Nemea's commander said "I don't really have much good news. First off is the Battlestar Valiant which is currently docked inside of Nemea" letting out a weary sigh he continued "I know you want her available as soon as possible Admiral" Adama nodded, she was a Mercury Class and was seen as one of the heavy hitters of the Colonial Fleet. "But Valiant is going to take a bare minimum of four months of work before she will even be ready for guard duty. I'm sorry it just can't be helped. While the majority of her structural beams are still intact a lot of her superstructure collapsed during the assault, it's that bad that we've been crawling around inside her for a week now and still haven't been able to get a full list of what needs doing. What we need to do now is clear the debris which in most cases we will just melt down and start from scratch as well as stripping her armour belt when that's done".

Moving onto the next sheet, the Commander continued "Hades is a different matter entirely. While the damage to her starboard side looks like it could take months to fix, this damage seems to be superficial and while it is a hull breach, below this breach there is very little of importance and that section of the Battlestar has been evacuated and locked down. Our estimates place it at 4 days to strip the damaged armour and the hull around that section and a further week to remove the internal structure. But after that we should be on the straight and narrow so to speak. Give it an extra 3 weeks work and we'll have that section rebuilt and by that time we should have been able to repair the rest of her. Just be glad Commander that they built Hades to last.

"Valkyrie suffered some moderate internal damage when the Cylons boarded her but her armour is relatively intact, in total there's 14 pieces we have to replace but that's it. With the internal damage I suggest that you use your own dc crews to fix it although I will be sending over parts and a few of my own people to supervise and do the specialist work but right now they're needed elsewhere"

"Halcyon is a mixed bag at the moment. We've got damaged power cables throughout the ship in more than a hundred places we know about so far. We've traced the problem back to a generator overload but we still don't know why the trippers didn't go off blocking the current. If it's as bad as we think it is then we may have to replace the cabling in a third of her structure which I shouldn't have to tell you is a big job. While this is going on we also want to tackle the damaged sections which will involve 6 weeks work rebuilding the portside flightpod and like with the other Battlestars replacing the damaged structural members. But give us six to eight weeks and she should be back under power".

"The Medstar Panacea is one of the healthiest ships we have right now…"

"Must be all the drugs on board" Tigh joked with his typical drink fuelled laugh. Not drunk enough to be a concern just yet his joke got a titter from the rest of the board.

"If only that were true. We are however having some trouble restarting some of the systems and there have been a few areas where thieves have stolen some parts containing platinum and gold, but these are only niggling problems nothing more. We plan to have those parts replaced within the week and fix those systems, most of which are medical which aren't restarting. One thing we do plan on doing some time in the future with your permission Admiral, is adding more antiship weaponry because right now Panacea has the one of the strongest point defences in the fleet but her offensive capabilities are in a word lacking".

Roslin looked at him over the rim of her glasses "I'm not sure how I feel about our hospital ship going into battle?"

"They wouldn't be. The antiship weaponry would be to ensure that if the Cylons try to attack them they can at least survive long enough for the nearest Battlestar to get to them or even long enough to even the odds for us".

"Well discuss this in more detail later Commander, but it is an interesting idea. What about the Marinestars"

"Both of them are in excellent conditions. Despite taking some damage you need to commend your DC crews on their work General since most of it has been fixed. Other than that they are in the best condition in the entire fleet.

"Now, Galactica. This is going to be a pretty big job. Just like Major Cain said you need the Starboard flightpod to resume operations the main problem with that though is that whoever was decommissioning her ripped out the linear accelerators along with what must be everything of value from that section including most of the copper wiring. The only positive it seems is that the airlocks and lifts are still working. Then you are going to need an entirely new armour belt added and a full systems optimisation and then we need to repair the port side damaged sections. The list goes on Admiral, really its mainly things that would have been done at your next maintenance check-ups if Galactica wouldn't have been scheduled for decommissioning. Give it four months and she should be back on her feet".

"Now you won't be happy about this but the only way we can fully repair all of the fleet's ships is if we sacrifice one of the Battlestars"

"Is that really necessary I thought that Nemea had spare parts already" Laura asked shocked at the statement. As far as she knew the fleet needed every warship they could get their hands on, it seemed stupid to sacrifice a warship when they were already short of them and every remaining warship seemed to be worth their weight in diamonds.

Shaking his head, the Commander replied "The majority of Nemea's cargo was held on the parts of the station that were unable to jump. We took everything we could but we didn't have much time. We have no other choice apart from break down some of the civilian ships but even then we won't have the military grade parts we need. We have however made what we feel is the wisest choice possible. The Battlestar Talon has what we refer to as a broken back. Essentially her main structural members are broken and this isn't something that can be easily replaced. In fact the only way is to stick her in dry-dock, strip her hull along with a fifth of her internal superstructure before we can totally remove the broken members before reforming them. Then well have to replace all the damaged systems. The whole process would take 8 months and would cost too many resources that we just don't have. However by doing it this way we can fit every ship out with everything they need and still have spare parts left over. The whole process to strip her will take 2 to 3 months starting from the inside out so that we don't need to move her into Nemea. I hope you realise Admiral that the fleet is just barely holding together and that all of this will take time, the damage is so bad on some ships that we have yet to finish our reports".

There was a silence around the room following the Commanders report that seemed to hang around for a while before Daniel Graystone decided to break it "Well I guess it's our turn now" the various heads turned to them interested in what they would have to bring to the table.

Taking a moment to compose himself Daniel started "Well first off Admiral, our copy of the Colonial Fleet Mainframe is ready to be moved to Nemea although I would suggest that you allow us to create another copy of it since we can't really afford to lose it and you need to remember that this isn't an up to date mainframe, instead its four months old. We only tended to update it every six months. The data we hacked from the Cylons is heavily encrypted however a lot of the Cylons coding seems to be roughly in line of where we expected them to be by now which I should add is beyond what the CIA (Colonial Intelligence Agency) expected and this is helping to speed up our decryption…"

"Just tell me what you know so far and how long it will be before you can decipher the rest" Adama spoke with an air of exhaustion. Despite everything that the Graystones had done to help the fleet it was still hard to look at them and trust them never mind work with them. But he knew he had to at least try.

"The Cylons committed every single active Basestar at the battle for Leonis. By my estimates they currently have fifty six still in service and capable of fighting…"

"Fifty! My Gods we could have taken them…" Commander Stone snapped, looking around her she beseeched "We could have held on and possibly saved Virgon". The reality was hard for them all to dismiss, alone a Battlestar is worth two maybe three Basestars, but together a Battlestar group of four Battlestars and their supporting ships is worth twenty to thirty Basestars depending on how they thought and before they started running they had just enough for two Battlestar groups if you counted the marinestars.

"What about inactive Basestars?" Adama asked.

"They're the ones they took with them from the first war and constructed as soon as they left our space. We currently don't know where they are but what I can tell so far is that only a small number were broken up, the rest were just mothballed just like we did with the boneyards. I believe they will already have them back in service by now if only to fill out their ranks until they can build new Basestars. They have 53 Baseships".

"We could have still held on" Stone answered "We may have lost the majority of the surviving fleet if we had fought at Virgon but by the time we dealt with the new Basestars we would have had time to bring the mothballed ships back into service".

"And how would you have dealt with the Kraken class Battlestation" (Colonial designation of Cylon colony since they don't know it's real name or purpose) Adama asked before saying "It doesn't matter, we need to think of the future right now, not the past. Go ahead Doctor".

Daniel continued "Were still trying to work out the locations of the Cylons planets and shipyards due to the level of encryption and the same goes for the majority of their technology although we can safely theorise on what they do have based on our previous engagements and my own technology and experiences. Look it's going to take us months maybe even years to totally crack everything unless we make a major breakthrough but we have already safely created three copies of the database we downloaded although with your current lack of networked computers even closed networked ones you are going to have a hard time cracking it. I would also like to suggest that you create an intelligence directorate that can go ahead and try to crack the database and keep in mind that those surviving Ciphers on Nemea are willing to help".

The General looked around the table saying "Admiral Nagala had some members of FLINT 7 (Fleet Intelligence directorate 7) transferred to Annaxander before we departed. We could have them head up a new intel wing if we give them a copy of the Cylon database and the Colonial Mainframe".

"I want you to set up a meeting for tomorrow. Doctor Graystone I want you there".

Seeing that it was now her turn, President Roslin put on her glasses and looking down at her notes started "We currently have an emergency quorum up and running mainly thanks to the governments on Leonis and Virgon acting as they did and sending members of their own government. As it is Virgon have sent their Shadow Home Secretary and their Shadow secretary of Defence while Leonis sent their Shadow Secretary of Defence and Princess Alice. Due to the rate of succession in both governments Damien Linn (Shadow Secretary of Defence to Virgon) and Princess Alice have taken the seats on the Quorum with the other two serving as advisors".

"Why was a Princess chosen over the Shadow Defence Secretary?" Commander Stone asked since she wasn't familiar with Leonis politics.

Major Cain, a Leonis native despite his Tauron ancestry answered "All members of Leonis Royal Family are required to commit to two years military service and once war has been declared by Leonis Government as Montgomery did then the Monarchy is bumped up to third place for the Queen, Seventh for the Prince Regent and 10th for Princess Alice. Despite being only 20 the Princess was well respected".

"Thankyou Major. While we have those seats filled the rest of the seats aren't and we are going to need to start elections soon. You might be interested to know we have finished the census with the help of the Generals soldiers. The results are as follows; 442,826 Caprica 48,568, Gemenon 19,614, Tauron 20,142, Scorpia 17,604, Sagittaron 33,018, Aerilon 32,461, Canceron 38,580, Libra 28,726, Picon 28,650, Leonis 92,448, Virgon 63,019, Aquaria 19,992". It was no surprise that Leonis and Virgon had the highest numbers of people in the fleet, they were two of the largest shipping hubs in the colonies and Admiral Nagala had bought time for the authorities to evacuate as many civilians as they could onto those ships, even while the fleet held off the Cylons in orbit of Leonis the civilian ships still kept on being loaded with primarily women, children and families and jumping out. It also thanks to the contingency plans that Leonis had in place combined with the fact that it was Armistice Day, a day that meant that Leonis military was fully formed for parade marches and so were able to be rapidly mobilised that meant Leonis had the highest numbers of civilian survivors. Virgon was helped by the fact that the fleet had 2 battalions of Virgon's soldiers with it. But still hundreds of thousands from billions was tough to digest.

A ray of hope came when Major Cain spoke "Admiral, with you now being the acting fleet admiral and when you have the time we need to have a talk about Leonis".

Looking at him and taking the fact that he said Acting Fleet Admiral, a term the other Commanders caught and rightly recognised it for what it was (a black ops reference to be discussed with nobody else but the fleet Admiral), Adama asked "Can it be discussed here?"

"I'm afraid not sir".

"Very well, well discuss it later".

"anyway…" Roslin continued while raising an eyebrow at Admiral Adama "We are still running a census to determine what skill sets the survivors have in relation to what we need and I have also asked Doctor Baltar to compile the requirements of the basic needs of the fleet".

Catching his cue, Baltar shuffled to the right document before speaking "Yes, as the President I've been going over the basic needs of the fleet which has been worsened due to this crisis we are now in. Anyway for 442,826 people barring any births or deaths we will need 803.5 tons of grain, 832.9 tons of meat, 1166.1 tons of fruit, 2978.9 tons of vegetables, 24.498 jps (jps is roughly a pint) of water".

The figures seemed huge to Apollo who asked "Is that a month?"

Looking up at him, Baltar answered "Per week. The figures are correct barring any special dietary requirements".

Looking at the Admiral, Apollo said "We can't handle that much food…"

Listening to the invisible blonde figure next to him, Baltar said "I actually have a way to extend our supplies. We have 9 botanical and pleasure ships in the fleet along with a gm seed ark sent over from Virgon. I suggest we start turning these ships into farming ships. We also have a number of Cattle in the fleet which we should continue to breed until we have larger stocks. Well never be able to increase our stocks more than they are already but we will be able to extend them by months possibly years if we work on the situation and get lucky plus we have geneticists from CORA who could help us. Either way those ships are an extravagance right now that we can't afford. They have fertile soil, inbuilt irrigation systems, combined UV lamps and controlled atmospheric systems. We have to use them properly".

"An interesting solution Doctor…" President Roslin said "…But you will find that many civilians will not like to consume GM produce".

"Frak them" the General said "When they get hungry enough they will eat anything and unless they are allergic they should get what they are given".

"Will you need any extra resources to get this done Doctor" Admiral Adama asked. While not a supporter of GM crops or anything to do with modifying genes, Adama did at least understand that when you have nothing something is always preferable, hence why he was giving his support to the scientist.

Thinking back to a lifetime he had left behind long ago, Baltar said "Well need Nemea to create farming equipment…manual gear if you can't spare the tylium and fertilisers…" Baltar thought for a moment before saying "…the cattle dung will do as well as food waste and any other biodegradable rubbish plus human waste. We will also need a workforce, preferably people with a farming background".

Writing down the list, Adama looked at Nemea's Commander who said "Once we have a full list we can get to manufacturing".

Admiral Adama was next to speak "I must admit that I haven't done something that I should have done as soon as we left the colonies. There has been no proper chain of command since we left, thankfully you have been going about your business based on your commissioning dates but still we need to form a clear chain of command, an admiralty in case anything should happen to myself. As such as senior ranking officer placed in charge of this fleet by Admiral Nagala I am assuming the Command as Fleet Admiral. Commander Scott, I'm going to skip a rank and am promoting you to Vice Admiral and second in command of the fleet, you did a good job with 16 and I could use your advice. Commander Stone I'm making you third in command and promoting you to Rear Admiral, you may be young but you did your job at Caprica and you showed you have what it takes over Leonis. The rest of you will be by commissioning dates but don't think I don't hold your advice any less than theirs. General, you're not a fleet officer" at a nod from the man, Adama continued "But you are supposed to be a smart soldier and as such I'm giving you a command equal to that of a grade 1 Commander. You all know that Major Cain as Field Air Marshal is outside the normal chain of command and is only answerable to an Admiral and while in Battle if he notices any changes in the Cylon formation he can give new orders to your squadrons which will supersede your own but you will be notified if this happens. If you haven't done so already I suggest you read the rules on what a Field Air Marshal can and can't do. This has already possibly saved Galactica from excess damage during the bombing. Madam President, we have already spoken but this is for the benefit of my officers, you understand that your authority and that of the civilian government only extends to the civilian ships, all military ships are under the command of the Colonial Military and our orders to the civilian ship captains supersedes your own".

Laura nodded saying "I do".

It was another ten minutes before the group started to disperse so that in the end it was only Adama, Tigh and the President left in the room.

Looking at the Admiral, Roslin asked "Do you mind telling me what that was about between you and Major Cain?"

Sitting back down while fingering with the various reports, the Admiral looked up at Colonel Tigh and then over to President Roslin before replying "Major Cain is an exceptional officer who used to be my senior deck chief on the Battlestar Valkyrie. He knows exactly how I feel about networks and was the man who oversaw the breaking up of Valkyries. I thought he disliked networks as much as I do…"

"It's not about liking or disliking networks Bill and you know it" Colonel Tigh butted in. Tigh hated networks just as much as, if not more than Admiral Adama, but even he could see sense sometimes "We need pilots right now and you know it. It would take months to train a new batch of recruits, from what Cain said he can do it in weeks this way. Cain knows a Battlestars systems like the back of his hand, if says he can create a closed secure network then we have to at least give him the chance. He's earned that at least".

Cocking her head to the side Roslin smirked "You sound as if you care, Colonel". Over the past week or so Laura felt like she was getting some sense of the man.

As he was just leaving the room, with a gruff voice Tigh answered "Who said I care. He's just less useless than the rest of the officers in the fleet".

Once Tigh had left, Adama said into the silence "I once promised to never allow a network to exist on this ship again. It's a promise I'm going to have to break".

Looking at him and seeing a man for whom principles were important, Roslin reassured "Look at it this way Admiral. If the network is breached then it won't affect your ships systems. Sometimes we have to change our promises if only to survive" before she too left the room to leave Adama contemplating their situation.

**System H3-12-10-19**

**Raptor 223 Boomer Crashdown**

"Negative…Negative…Negative. I'm telling you Boomer there's nothing here. How many systems is that now. We should have found at least one measly comet by now" Crashdown moaned yet again for what felt like the hundredth time in the last hour. The Pilot and ECO had jumped to five separate systems in the last six hours to conduct sweep upon sweep of the different systems searching for one of the most precious things to life, water. It should have been amongst one of the most abundant things in the universe when you considered how much hydrogen and oxygen existed, but to find both together, at least in the region of space they were travelling through seemed next to impossible. The Colonials weren't to know that in the past in this small corner of the galaxy a cataclysmic event had shook the very foundations needed for life so that where once there had been an abundance of water trapped in ice in the Kuiper belts, Oort Clouds and comets passing through the systems very little remained. That wasn't to say that water would never be found but it did mean that they would have to look extremely carefully.

"Can it Crash and run the sweep again. I've got a feeling" Boomer called back. Crashdown was a poor replacement for Karl in her eyes and it seemed like every time Crash spoke he only seemed to reaffirm her belief. It normally took a long time for a pilot and an ECO to get a decent working relationship going and Boomer felt that both she and this refugee ECO from the now destroyed Battlestar Triton were from two ends of the spectrum. The Battlestar Triton had been a part of the Battle of Caprica with the defence fleet when she was destroyed, Crashdown having survived on board a Raptor trailing the Battlestar unfortunately the pilot had been killed by a ballistic piece of debris which had blasted through the cockpit window and through his body. Crashdown had been able to take control of the Raptor and land it on the Valkyrie when the evacuation order came but it was already too late for the pilot,

"Running sweep". While the starboard sensor view ran across Crashdowns board in the back of the Raptor, the portside ran across Boomers in the cockpit. She couldn't quite place it but something didn't feel right about the last sweep, it was as if her vision was blurry as if she were in a waking dream. It was weird but something just did not feel right just like when she woke up in the tool room. "Again we have nothing, what about you Boomer?"

The blurriness was getting worse, she could barely make out what her eyes were seeing despite them seeing perfectly that she was reading high levels of h20. A part of her mind just would not allow the rest of her mind to process what she was seeing but the Boomer in her, the Boomer that was human and would do anything for the colonies fought against that part of her mind but she was struggling to make it past the words "I…I don't know…I can't tell". Again her mind fought that smaller portion of her mind that was attempting to subvert her will and destroy the fleets chances. As more and more of the personality that was Boomer, Colonial Pilot, born on the mining colony of Troy, in love with Chief Galen Tyrol combatted the smaller, more destructive part a tipping point was surpassed and this smaller, destructive cluster of her mind realised that it was losing to Boomers false personality which had grown over the years since its activation. A backup plan had been but in place should this happen and this smaller cluster took control of her right arm and moved it down to the side, the thumb stretching for a red button next to a blinking red light. Boomers subconscious personality realised what was happening and quickly tried to take control so that both were stalled in their efforts but it was almost over now, this smaller cluster knew it couldn't hold back Boomer from perceiving the H2O readings and stop her from taking control of the arm and so it put everything it could into the arm and that's when Boomer really saw the readings. Crying out she said "I've got water, a lot of it dead ahead".

Crashdown whooped cries of joy as he checked over the data calling out the composition of what was a small planetoid hidden in the asteroid cluster. But the battle between Boomers subconscious and the deadlier cluster of her mind. They continued to struggle to control the arm, the cluster attempting to detonate the C8 and the subconscious trying to stop it. Just as it seemed the cluster scored a major victory and was able to make a valiant move for the button, Boomers subconscious came back in a full scale assault from all sides burning through the cluster and with an overpowering attack deactivated the detonator. All that was left of the deadly cluster seemed to fade away from the subconscious Boomers perception but in reality the remnants had crawled away to hide in another part of her mind to lick its wounds and be ready to be healed back to full strength at the sight of a small wooden elephant.

For now Boomers subconscious had won but her waking mind looked down not fully realising what had happened to see a brick of C8 and its attached detonator. _What's happening to me_? she screamed at herself. She had to get a grip or she risked losing everything she was.

**Unknown Ship 6km from Galactica**

"Are you sure you want to do this Danny, no one will hold it against you if you back out now?" an elderly but still fit, silver haired man asked.

"It's got to be me and you know it" Daniel replied as he made sure he had everything "Anyway all of this has happened before".

Another man broke in, his emerald eyes displaying a kind of wry amusement in place of the flecks of gold grinned at Daniel "Yeah although I just want to say right now that I am sorry".

Looking at the man, Daniel replied "What do you think the device is for. Don't sweat it".

"5 minutes" a beautiful blonde haired scientist called over to them "You all set?"

Looking himself over before picking up the two objects he needed Daniel nodded "Yeah as ready as I'll ever be".

**Battlestar Galactica**

**Hallway approaching Admiral Adamas office**

It was quiet when Cain walked down the hallway at just before 8pm. Half the pilots were usually DFG (drinking, fraking, gambling) at this time of night while the other half were either flying CAP or ready for rapid deployment. It was the same for the rest of the crew lately since there wasn't much to do on a Battlestar. Turning the corner at a y junction Cain almost walked into another officer Cain took a step back getting ready to apologise while rearranging the folders in his arms containing the pilot transfer orders and early plans for the holobands when he realised he didn't recognise this man whose uniform marked him as a pilot. He had a near perfect memory thanks to some fluke in his DNA and he had seen the files of every single pilot, officer with flight experience and civilian ship captain in the fleet and he didn't recognise this man.

Taking another step back, Cain realised that this man must have come from Admiral Adamas office but he knew that Admiral Adama was still in the CIC and wasn't due back for another ten minutes. His hand dropped to his primary sidearm, ripping it from his thigh holster in one clear movement while bringing it up to bear on this unknown Pilot. This gun wasn't the standard issue sidearm held by most of the people in the Colonial fleet which was held in his left holster but was in fact the higher Calibre Tauron Phoenix (Desert Eagle) held by Argos Squadrons pilots and a handful of special forces teams across the colonies as a kind of special recognition.

Levelling the Tauron Phoenix at the unknown pilot while taking another step back Cain ordered "Hands in the air, now!"

The other man seemed to comply straight away as the gravity of the situation seemed to hit him but in a relaxed, calm tone said "I'm a friend, I won't move you have my word".

"Are you a Cylon?" Cain asked even as he realised just how stupid the question was. Privately Cain was remembering the layout of this section of Galactica, remembering how far away the nearest phone was and how far away the closest marine dorm was.

"No, I'm just as human as any Colonial. My name is Daniel" the pilot answered seeming to be at perfect ease with the situation which was making Cain feel like he was somehow in a trap causing him to drop the files in his left hand and unclip his standard sidearm before bringing it up to point behind him "Wise, but not necessary, were the only two people here and like I said I don't mean you any harm, quite the opposite really. I'm here to help you".

"Well we'll leave it up to the Admiral to decide that. But until then what were you doing in the Admirals office?" the longer Cain stayed in this spot the more he started to feel wary of this calm man.

"I was leaving a message for the Admiral and a gift from a close friend. My time is almost up, just…just remember what Major Fermi said to you, everything she said to you" Daniel said with a hint of desperation.

For a moment Cain was caught off guard, he had never mentioned to anyone what Fermi had said to him as she lay dying and nobody had been close enough to hear her. "Get the frak down on your knees and face the wall now!" Cain had caught the implication in Daniels voice that he was going to attempt escape and he was taking no chances.

"I'm sorry but I can't do that…"

A bolt of electricity slammed into Cain's back, the force of the blow being enough to knock him out but not before his reflexes forced both guns to fire, the Tauron Phoenix resounding in an almighty retort while the standard sidearm had a more subdued tone. The round of the Tauron Phoenix crashed against Daniel before Cain's vision shimmered into a perfect white cloud before he fully passed out.

**Battlestar Galactica, Hallway leading to Admiral Adamas office**

**30 seconds later**

As soon as the shots rang out it seemed like mere seconds before the first of the marines arrived coming from both of the corridors behind Cain to find Cain unconscious amidst a pile of documents. Medics arrived moments later followed by Admiral Adama. While the medics got to work trying to assess Cain's condition, Admiral Adama asked Marine Sergeant Mathias "Have you found whoever the Major shot at?"

Mathias shook her head "I'm sorry sir, my marines came from both corridors as soon as we heard the shots and didn't pass anyone, we've also checked your quarters but there was nobody there. It's possible they managed to escape into an air shaft but there wouldn't have been enough time before we got here. There's also these" Mathias held up two clear plastic evidence bags each holding a crumpled up round and explained "We found the first war about 10 foot in front of Cain on the ground, the second one behind him by about three foot again on the ground. We've checked his sidearms and it appears that he fired both shots".

"So whoever it was he attacked had armour"

"Yes sir although the Tauron Phoenix has armour piercing rounds which we already know work against the Cylons we've seen. I would suggest you keep a marine guard with you at all times sir, it seems like whoever Cain attacked came after you and they may do so again".

"Understood…"

"Admiral…" a medic called out, "Major Cain is coming around"

Adama quickly went over to the cluster surrounding Cain and crouched down "Major, can you tell me what happened"

Remembering Cain answered, "I was coming to place my reports and transfer orders on your desk like you wanted when I confronted someone I didn't recognise wearing a jock smock…" Cain continued to tell Adama of what transpired as the medics gave him the all clear but said he should report to medical when he was done.

Adama listened carefully then said "Let's see what they left me. Sergeant…" Sergeant Mathias led Adama and Cain into the Admirals office and quarters and it seemed like straight away that Adama noticed something out of place. A small porcelain cup he had only ever seen in Admiral Nagala's possession. It was Nagala's most prized possession, said to have been the last cup from which King Strombe drank before he was executed a millennia ago. Once Mathias gave the all clear, Adama carefully picked it up and really believed that this was Nagala's before he noticed the note underneath. Placing the cup back down Adama picked up the note and read "There are only twelve Cylon models". None of this was making any sense but Adama knew he had to figure it out.

After thirty minutes once the rooms had been checked for bugs and Cain had been cleared by Cottle, Adama and Cain sat down alone and Adama asked "What is it I need to know?"

"just after I became a pilot my services were requested by Leonis Fleet Intelligence. This was entirely off the books punishable by death to both myself and my entire family should I reveal anything to anyone other than a fleet admiral. A harsh sentence I know but I understand now just how completely necessary it was. I can tell you right now that if any colony is prepared for one long drawn out war with the Cylons its Leonis. I don't know how they got the funding for it but Leonis Military was secretly constructing dozens of underground bunkers the likes of which I have never seen. These were huge, largely self-sufficient bunkers with manufacturing facilities. My job was mainly disposing of the rock and soil unearthed during the excavations by jumping a transport into deep space from within the ARCs before jumping back again…" Adama was shocked by that statement, to perform such a jump required unprecedented degrees of accuracy but he realised that if they knew the exact location at any one time as they did thanks to celestial mechanics then it was possible. Cain continued "…I can give you the exact locations of the three ARCs I worked on but under no circumstances are you to write them down even on paper, these coordinated must be memorised so as to preserve the integrity of these bases…" Cain continued to give Admiral Adama the intelligence he had on these ARCs astounding the Admiral with just how prepared for war Leonis was.

**Battlestar Galactica, Officer Dorm 6B**

Lieutenant Jena Milan opened her locker as she prepared herself for sleep and saw the faces of her family reflected back at her. Picking the photo off the door of her locker, tears came to her as she looked down on the faces of her deceased family. The photo was taken at her Brothers passing out ceremony and as was military tradition and since her entire family was in the fleet they were all in military dress. That day seemed so long ago, a lifetime even but despite her father Admiral Hudson being in the photo it felt even longer since she had allowed him to see her. Things were… they were strained to say the least between them ever since her oldest brother's death in an accident at the academy which had also taken the life of Zak Adama. She detested how he was so willing to blame Admiral Adama for the deaths when her brother wouldn't have even been a pilot if it wasn't for the amount of time they had spent being coerced into military life due to living on bases. Her father felt that he could convince anyone of anything and yet he could never convince her that he wasn't at least partially at fault. Jena had long ago put in for placement on Galactica just to see what kind of a man Adama was and throughout all her time here she had grown to trust him, he seemed to express a calm among his crew and while he kept his crew at readiness for action he treated them all just like his own children. She felt he was more of a father to her than her own father was in her whole childhood.

Even now she couldn't quite forgive her father but her siblings didn't need that, they were there for her as she grew up and she just wanted to hear the twins bickering at least one more time but there had been no word on the Battlestar Arion on which they were based as it was going through its readiness tests so it was likely more than likely they had all been killed on her father's temporary command. But not her brother Seth. Seth was a Marine aboard Atlantia, she'd already spoken to Marine Sergeant Munroe whom was on her and he told her that he had boarded a Raptor when the ship was being evacuated and that he was on a raptor following them out. Seth's Raptor had been hit before it could jump and was left drifting when Munroe's raptor jumped. Her heart ached at the loss of Seth, he was always trying to bring Jena and their father back together and the last thing he deserved was to die in such a horrible way.

Brushing her tears away, Jena felt relieved when the hatch opened and Dee and Gaeta came in. Seeing that something was wrong and suspecting what it was, Dee asked "Do you want to talk about it?"

Looking at the comm officer, Jena nodded and Gaeta got out a bottle of Absinthe before picking up three metal cups. It would be a long heartfelt night for all of them.

**Caprica**

**Admiral Perry**

Admiral Perry was passing his days alone in this forest worrying about his family and wondering just how bad the war was. It had been days since he had last heard the rumble of a Colonial Raptor and he had yet to see even one person. Of course that wasn't counting the three identical blonde women he had seen with the Cylons whom it was obvious were the leaders and most likely Cylons themselves. How he chuckled as he remembered it, having seen one of them he had been so close to running up to her with his arms held wide only to have those thoughts dashed in the next moment as he saw a group of what could have been updated Cylon Centurions led by two replicas of the blonde woman emerge from behind some foliage. How he hadn't seen the Centurions earlier he didn't know, what with their shiny chrome exteriors in a forest of browns and greens, at least in the first war the Cylons the Centurions had been smart enough to paint themselves in camouflaged colours. But, he thought, maybe they don't need to camouflage themselves because they are so many or so strong they don't need it. It was a daunting thought made ever more viable due to the fact he hadn't heard anything over the wireless.

Tearing a bite off the squirrel he had found dead earlier that day, Perry shivered against the cold as he hungrily chewed it before swallowing the morsel. Never before had he even considered eating roasted squirrel but he had to admit it wasn't all that bad, quite nice actually if only he could get adequate seasoning it would be perfect with a merlot and a few roast potatoes and veg. Frak who was he kidding, it was a good fantasy but there was barely any meat on the dead animal and he had to dope up on anti-radiation meds before he even considered eating it. His head quickly snapped to his right and he snatched up one of his rifles as the string he had scavenged from a parachute and had since tied in a wide perimeter around where he was suddenly pulled taught. He controlled his breathing and got down as low as he could, his chest deep in the muddy water but that tension on the line didn't let up. Was he scared there wasn't a moment that passed that he wasn't, he was a desk Admiral, it had been years since he had commanded a Battlestar and he had never been in the first Cylon war, the yearly survivalist refresher courses not being able to put across that feeling of fear or danger. Deciding to take a risk, Perry slowly slid forward through the mud for a dozen metres before he saw what the problem was, a branch had fallen from the dying trees onto the line.

Crawling out of the mud and silently berating himself for getting in this state, he was now muddy right through, Perry pulled the branch off the line and decided to stick it in one of his backpacks to dry on tomorrows trek for a fire tomorrow night. Then he heard it, salvation at last. Bounding through the mud he made it back to his fire and grabbed a device on his main backpack. The beeping of an automated colonial signal could be heard coming from the wireless, an automated signal which he hadn't heard before. He reasoned that it could be a trap, but he also reasoned that even if it was then there should still be a chance someone else heard it and decided to investigate. Checking a screen on the device, Perry realised that the signal was coming from somewhere in Caprica City, 30 miles from his location. It would be a hell of a walk but he was going in that direction already. He still had to check if the Phoenix Lair otherwise known as the Presidential Bunker was still intact, if it wasn't he was planning on searching for survivors in Caprica City before moving onto Delphi. Shivering against the cold wet clothes but having none to change into, Perry ended up pulling some of the material he'd saved from the parachute he had disassembled over himself as a waterproof blanket before he drifted into a restless, broken sleep comforted by the solid feel of his rifle.

**Battlestar Galactica, Adamas office**

Adama had sat cradling the teacup which belonged to his friend Admiral Nagala letting his thoughts mull over, chief of which was the fact that he knew Nagala never left the cup on Picon. They even had a conversation about it before due to Adama discovering that Nagala had dozens of antiques, enough to buy a Battlestar back at his Picon home. Nagala had told him "If I'm ever to die in battle then I want to be able to feel what it feels like to drink from a priceless relic. A relic one of my own ancestors created centuries ago. I can't really explain it but it's something I need to do". Nagala was right, Adama didn't understand although he desperately wanted to. At least he didn't understand until he saw Lee step onto the deck and know that he was safe, only then would he have accepted death to know that his son was safe. It was then that he realised he didn't know what happened to Nagala's family, did they survive the bombing of Picon, are they in the fleet, he knew that he owed it to his friend to find out what happened to them.

Carefully wrapping the cup up, Adama placed it inside a small padded lockbox before placing said box in his desk. Pouring himself a glass of whisky, he looked at the pile of documents in front of him and realised that this was going to be a long night. He had avoided it for as many years as possible but now it finally seemed to him that not only was he the Commander of Galactica and an Admiral in the fleet he had finally done it, finally taken on the one thing he had spent years trying to avoid and became a desk Admiral too. Sliding on his glasses, Adama opened the first in a long line of documents, this one detailing a plan for the Battlestar Hades, to ditch her irradiated water supplies just like the Battlestar Valkyrie as soon as they had mined some water from the ice planet to replace them, for now the irradiated water was to continue acting as a second shield and could still be filtered enough to act as a coolant.

Signing off on the report before moving onto the next one, Adama saw that this was Cain's plan for the closed network holobands. He didn't like it, hated it even. He never wanted a single network on Galactica, so many had already been lost because of them, because people wanted a faster easier way of doing things but he had to ask himself if they could really afford not to allow this plan. He knew that they didn't have anywhere near enough pilots for a fleet of this size or even a fleet half this size and even if they immediately reinstated the retired and dropout pilots they still wouldn't have enough. It took months to train a new pilot to anywhere near the levels even considered acceptable and most of that time was spent putting across complex theories and equations before you even got to basic flight training in the simulators which he knew from experience were nothing like the real thing. He also knew he benefits of the holoband virtual Sims, he had experienced just how real they felt decades ago and he knew the ones he had used weren't even close to what Daniel Graystone had released just prior to war. Just prior to the war the entire V network had been overhauled and a new range of holobands released that were better able to interpret this world. The update to the V world had been a wide range of generative algorithms which were able to make V world as real as the real world especially in Grace, it had been seen as the foremost advance in Colonial Society since the Cylons.

But then when Adama weighed this up against the millions who died from the holobands and the networks created he wasn't so sure. But as long as the right precautions were taken and the network was not connected to the rest of the ship and if the PLRs and the Graystones firewalls worked then hopefully they should be safe. But it was a lot of ands and ifs and to be honest Adama was struggling to actually allow it, but even the old guard were backing it if only to increase the number of pilots the fleet.

A bang rang from the hatch, likely from the marine posted outside. "Enter" Adama called out while taking off his glasses.

The hatch swung open and the marine came in and said "Admiral, a Mrs Fazekas would like to speak to you", the Marine a native of Virgon had no idea of the significance of that name but Adama sat stock still as he knew just who she was.

"Allow her in then return to your post Corporal".

The Corporal nodded and said "There's also two other men out here that came with her, sir. Mrs Fazekas said they are to stay outside if you so order it". Adama nodded to do so and the marine turned to leave and allow Mrs Fazekas entrance.

An old woman who must have been in her late 90s and of Tauron descent entered, she had a couple of tattoos visible on her neck and one on her cheek and she still held herself like someone of some power. Moving into the room and cradling her side, once the hatch was shut behind her she locked eyes with Adama and said "Thankyou for seeing me Bill".

"I will honour my father's oaths with this visit and I will hear what you want to say. But I am not Halatha and I will never be so, Gautrau".

**Well I hope you liked this chapter, sorry for the wait. As each episode of galactica covered so many different people I've had to try and focus on certain plots in each chapter which means Im moving my focus away from other areas.**

**Things that have stayed the same but are in the background;**

**Boomer wakes dripping wet in tool room with detonator in her bag**

**Boomer and Tyrol moments**

**Tyrol and co checking out damage to water tanks**

**Helo and Sharon storyline on caprica (although Admiral perry heard the same signal)**

**One major difference is that Baltar hasn't started work on Cylon detector yet since I had to come up with a new way of introducing it (after all dorals head was blown off before Baltar said he was a cylon) however work is now commencing.**

**Doctor Baltars stats about what the fleet needs foodwise are accurate according to how he added them up in the original episode and a jps is equivalent to one pint.**

**I know that some of you wont like how Adama is allowing the closed holoband network in the fleet but I tried to show an internal struggle in him as he had to accept that they didn't have enough pilots left. I also hope you liked the internal struggle that Boomer had in the Raptor.**

**All reviews appreciated along with any questions you may have. And I would like to thank reviewerdwj for his idea about introducing Jena Milan into this story however for now other than suggestions I already have I wont be adding any more.**

**Below you will find a Shape of things to come for the next chapter (the three beasts) of Lions of Leonis which deals with the war in the Colonies.**

"Scorpia…Tauron…Picon. They were hit the hardest".

"Caprica…The fleet must have learnt how to combat the Cylons".

"Gemenon, Libran, Sagitaron, Virgon, Aerilon, Canceron. The fleet must have been hit hard, most of the wrecks seem to indicate hit and run tactics".

"Leonis…The fleet must have made their final stand here" A mighty battle had been fought here. Tumbling hulks of scores of ships from both the Colonial Fleet and The Cylons drifted amongst each other and in between them thousands of torn apart Vipers, Raptors and Heavy Raiders dotted the battlefield. They were all dead, or so it would seem.

"We got lucky, we were in the wrong location when they came and suffered a power failure which left us off the grid"

Before her was a vast cavernous like room with a curved ceiling which seemed to be constructed from the same type of material as a Battlestars armour. Solar lamps, ten foot in diameter hung from the apex of this ceiling every 50 feet and judging by how many she saw the vast room must have been five to six hundred foot long. Running along the length were thousands of crates and vast areas set aside for triage.

"DRADIS CONTACTS! Multiple Cylon Basestars detected in orbit. They're first war Baseships".

"Find the fleet…protect them at all costs. They must survive".

"Commander…it's the Pegasus"


End file.
